Christina Kimeze

Christina Kimeze (b. 1986, London) is an artist who uses unusual surface materials to explore how texture and luminosity help to investigate themes of interiority, oneness and belonging. Frequently working on suede mat board, Kimeze combines dry chalks, oil pastel and wet paints, applying, crushing and crunching them on the surfaces. In both her paintings and works on paper, Kimeze lends form to the rich quietude of our internal lives, in works that capture feelings and sensations born of memory and found through reflection. 

Kimeze’s paintings attain a completeness that transcends any singular narrative. Her female protagonists, often depicted within a framework of richly coloured foliage, are characterised by a stillness which the artist describes as ‘an active state and full of possibility.’ This idea of openness, not only to interpretation, but to potential, is rooted in the writings of Kevin Quashie, specifically ‘The Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture,’ (2012) from which many of the works in the exhibition take their titles.

Kimeze holds a BA in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford and a postgraduate degree from The Royal Drawing School (2022). 

Solo exhibitions include ‘Something other than the world might know’, White Cube, Paris (2023); ‘The Great Women Artists IV’, Palazzo Monti, Brescia (2023).

Group exhibitions include ‘Soulscapes’, Dulwhich Picture Gallery, London (2024); ‘Present Tense’, Hauser & Wirth Somerset (2024); ‘Oh Telephone, Black Oracle’, French Institute, Grenoble (2024); ‘Interior’, Michael Werner Gallery, London (2023); and ‘Royal Collection’, Christie’s, London (2023).

Kimeze has completed the residency programme in Black Rock, Dakar (2024); ‘The Great Women Artists Residency at Palazzo Monti, Brescia (2023); Borgo Pignano Royal Drawing School residency, Volterra (2022); and was awarded the Sir Denis Mahon Award (2022).