Mimi Cherono Ng'ok (born 1983) is a Kenyan photographer, living in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

. Her "photographs are a visual diary of the experiences and emotions emerging from her itinerant life". Ng'ok's work has been shown at the

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Roy ...

Berlin Biennale The Berlin Biennale (full name: Berlin Biennale für zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art) is a contemporary art exhibition, which has been held at various locations in Berlin, Germany, every two to three years since 1998. T ...

Carnegie International The Carnegie International is a North American exhibition of contemporary art from around the globe. It was first organized at the behest of industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie on November 5, 1896 in Pittsburgh. Carnegie established th ...

and

African Photography Encounters African Photography Encounters (french: Rencontres Africaines de la Photographie) is a biennial exhibition in Bamako, Mali, held since 1994. The exhibition, featuring exhibits by contemporary African photographers, is spread over several Bamako ...

, and is held in the Walther Collection.

Early life and education

Ng'ok grew up in the rural outskirts of

, Kenya. In 2006 she graduated with a BFA from the

Michaelis School of Fine Art The Michaelis School of Fine Art was founded in 1925, and is the Fine Arts department of the University of Cape Town. The school's current director is Associate Professor Kurt Campbell. There are three research institutions associated with the sch ...

at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

in South Africa.

Photography

Her 2008 series ''I am Home'', on African immigrants living in South Africa, deals with "issues of home, displacement, loss, and identity". A project begun in 2013, made in countries where she has lived and travelled, was described by Alexandra Genova in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' as "a series of vignettes on memory, loss and lust revealed through Ng'ok's experiences." Given that Ng'ok believes home is not a place, but a state of mind, Genova wrote that the work "explores this temporality through the intersection of people and place". Diane Smyth in the ''

British Journal of Photography The ''British Journal of Photography'' (BJP) is a magazine about photography, published by 1854 Media. It includes in-depth articles, profiles of photographers, analyses, and technological reviews. History The magazine was established in Liverpo ...

'' described Ng'ok's work in an exhibition called ''Africa State of Mind'' as giving "a personal interpretation of place, in contrast to the apparently objective lens of documentary photography". ''Everyone is Lonely in Kigali'' was made in Dakar, Accra, Berlin, Abidjan, Kampala, Kigali, Nairobi and Johannesburg and includes her frequently used subject matter: trees, the tropics, horses and an unidentified male figure. The series ''Do You Miss Me? Sometimes, Not Always'', was made over six months after October 2014, in the cities of Kigali, Abidjan, Kampala, and Nairobi in memory of her friend

Thabiso Sekgala Thabiso Sekgala (1981 – 15 October 2014) was a South African photographer. His work was about "land, peoples’ movement, identity and the notion of home". Sekgala's photography was published in a book, ''Paradise'' (2014) and exhibited posthumo ...

, who died.

Publications with contributions by Ng'ok

*''Voices: a Compilation of Testimonials: African Artists Living and Working in Cape Town and Surrounds''. Cape Town: African Arts Institute, 2011. Edited by Rucera Seethal. . *''Peregrinate: Field Notes on Time Travel and Space.'' South Africa:

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

, 2013. By Ng'ok,

and Musa N. Nxumalo.

Group exhibitions

*''Peregrinate: Field Notes on Time Travel and Space'', Makerere Art Gallery,

Makerere University Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of ni ...

, Kampala, Uganda, 2015. Work by Ng'ok,

and Musa N. Nxumalo. *

, Bamako, Mali, 2015. Included her series ''Do You Miss Me? Sometimes, Not Always'' *

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

, 2018 *

, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2018 *''Africa State of Mind'', New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK, 2018 *''S'thandwa Sami (My Beloved)'',

, London, 2019. Work by Ng'ok and Thabiso Sekgala.

Collections

Ng'ok's work is held in the following permanent collections: * Walther Collection: 30 prints (as of April 2021)

Awards

*2017: Winner,

Photo London Photo London is an annual photography event held at Somerset House in London in May.Photo London
. ...

Artproof Award, for her series ''Everyone is Lonely in Kigali'' *2017: Grant,

Magnum Foundation Magnum Foundation is a non-profit, photographic foundation located in New York City with a mission to expand diversity and creativity in documentary photography. History and mission Magnum Foundation was founded in 2007, in the midst of the c ...

Fund

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ng'ok, Mimi Cherono 21st-century women photographers Artists from Nairobi Kenyan women artists Kenyan women photographers Kenyan photographers University of Cape Town alumni Date of birth missing (living people) Living people 1983 births