Dickens Otieno
Dickens Otieno lives and works in Kenya. He creates tapestries highlighting the potential beauty of objects that would otherwise be dismissed as useless or discarded. He shreds aluminium cans and weaves them into fabrics.
Otieno's mother was a tailor, and he spent many hours in her workshop amongst lesos and kitenges, whose colours and patterns have since influenced his aesthetic. This engagement with textiles grows from an interest in how pattern, colour and iconography are used to imbue functional objects with meaning and identity. Otieno draws on his immediate physical surroundings, particularly the urban environment in his native Nairobi, to create his compositions.
Dickens Otieno was featured in the 2022 Kenyan Pavilion of the Venice Biennale.
Weaving, in various forms, from traditional African textiles to the works of contemporary artists, is one of the central themes of the exhibition.
The exhibition displays two works of the artist: Topography 2 from the series Leso (2020) and Untitled (2017).
