025 - Germain Ngoma

There's few people in the Oslo art scene who don't know him. Even less who he hasn't helped at some point.
To accompany his solo exhibition Walkabout at Khartoum Contemporary Art Center the 24th of August we talk about his upbringing in Zambia, how he started doing art and how that lead him to Norway.

Germain Ngoma
WALKABOUT
At Khartoum Contemporary Art Center, Oslo
From the 24th to the 27th of August 2017
Vernisage thursday the 24th at 19:00
currated by Frido Evers

Walkabout.
One of the descriptions of this word catches Ngoma's attitude towards his art very well:
1 : a short period of wandering bush life engaged in by an Australian aborigine as an occasional interruption
of regular work —often used in the phrase go walkabout (merriam-webster.com)
In Germain's case I would formulate it as a nonchalant stroll with a light spiritual undertone. With this attitude
he seems to go walkabout: observing and collecting.
It is no surprise that his works often are created out of a collections of occasional objects which have lost their
value. Discarded packing materials, off-cuts from other projects. The remnants of actions one encounters on
such a stroll, such as the markings of skateboards on a wall. The spiritual part is when he assembles these
objects and frames these markings. Not to illustrate a point or to point out some social or political agenda too
much but to give them back their autonomy.
Born in Zimbabwe and raised in Zambia and trained as a foundry technician before leaving Zambia to study
art in Oslo. Germain Ngoma has exhibited widely and continues an experimental practice in many different
media. His contribution to the Norwegian art scene is far beyond his exhibition activities. He is considered
teacher and mentor to many students that have passed through the Academy of Art in Oslo. Ngoma was
instrumental in establishing Norad funded workshops that have resulted in Zambian MA students studying in
Oslo and establishing a strong European cultural network.