Ivy Brandie Chemutai Ng’ok (Chemu Ng’ok) investigates personal, psychological, political, and spiritual relationships through her art. Her works unveil tensions and shifts in belief systems within African societies, blending reality and imagination to create intricate narratives. These include themes such as the act of negotiating power for the self within the institution, bearing witness to ceremonies, the search for justice, and navigating loss through the body within the theme of transition. The works are in constant flux as their meaning changes over time and the ambiguity of the work allows for different interpretations. Painting becomes a verb, an act of doing, searching, witnessing, navigating. An elusive conclusion is never reached.
“In painting the body, I show a psychological disjuncture. The flexibility of flesh offers me painterly ammunition. Lines hint at the unfinished aspects of thought… The lines morph and become a type of coding that hovers “in the air” of Painting. These transmutations are endless. They refer to language, memory, ritual, absence, a future that is yet to be determined, things left unsaid and bodies on the verge of eruption.” – Chemu Ng'ok
Thinking/migrations
2024
Acrylic on canvas
2 parts 2 parts, each 180 x 160 cm / 70 7/8 x 63 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
Vortex
2024
Acrylic and oil on canvas
Each 180 x 160 cm / 70 7/8 x 63 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
Revisit
2024
Acrylic on canvas
80 x 60 cm / 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
Indigo Child
2023-2024
Oil on canvas
180 x 160 cm / 70 7/8 x 63 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
We will come back to that one
2023-2024
Oil on canvas
180 x 160 cm / 70 7/8 x 63 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
Witness
2023-2024
Oil on canvas
180 x 160 cm / 70 7/8 x 63 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
Drift II
2023
Acrylic on canvas
80 x 60 cm / 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
Implosion
2023
Acrylic on canvas
150 x 150 cm / 59 x 59 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
Reverie
2023
Acrylic on canvas
150 x 110 cm / 59 x 43 1/4 in
@ Chemu Ng'ok
Trace
2023
Acrylic on canvas
150 x 110 cm / 59 x 43 1/4 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
Obscure
2022
Acrylic and oil on canvas
180 x 160 cm / 70 7/8 x 63 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
Rapture
2022
Acryl on canvas
80 x 60 cm / 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
Discernment
2021
Oil on canvas
119.5 x 100.5 cm / 47 x 39 1/2 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
Court Appearance
2021
Oil on canvas
160 x 180 cm / 62 1/2 x 70 1/2 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
Transfer
2017
Oil on canvas
110 x 149.5 cm / 43 1/4 x 58 7/8 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
Strategy
2016
Oil on canvas
155 x 251.5 cm / 61 x 99 in
© Chemu Ng'ok
