Kiluanji Kia Henda (b. 1979, Luanda, Angola) employs a surprising sense of humour in his work, which often hones in on themes of identity, politics, and perceptions of post-colonialism and modernism in Africa. Kia Henda brings a critical edge to his multidisciplinary practice, which incorporates photography, video, and performance. Informed by a background surrounded by photography enthusiasts, Kia Henda’s conceptual-based work has further been sharpened by exposure to music, avant-garde theatre, and collaborations with a collective of emerging artists in Luanda’s art scene. Much of Kia Henda’s work draws on history through the appropriation and manipulation of public spaces and structures, and the different representations that form part of collective memory, in order to produce complex, yet powerful imagery.
Something Happened on the Way to Heaven, MAN Museo d’Arte Provincia di Nuoro, Italy
Kiluanji Kia Henda, M Leuven, Belgium
The Island of Venus, HANGAR Centro de Investigação Artística, Lisbon, Portugal
In the Days of a Dark Safari, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
A City Called Mirage, International Studio and Curatorial Practice (ISCP), New York
Under the Silent Eye of Lenin, Frieze Artist Award, London
This Is My Blood, public installation for the Steiricher Herbst Festival, Graz, Austria
Solo show, Frieze Art Fair, London
China Africa: Crossing the Color Line, Center Pompidou, Paris
Masculinities: Liberation through photography, The Barbican, Londo
Have you seen a horizon lately?, Macaal, Marrakech
Camera Lucida, das weisse haus, Vienna, Austria
Imperfect Societies, Burlington City Arts, Vermont, USA
Artfact 2019: Parallel Crossings, Stuk Art Center, Leuven, Belgium
Frieze Artist Award
Nominated as one of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers by Foreign Politic
National Award for Culture and the Arts from the Angolan Ministry of Culture
Nominated for BES Photo prize, Lisbon
Nominated for Paul Huff Award, FOAM, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tate Modern, Collection of Contemporary Art, London, UK
Fondazione di Venezia, Public Collection, Venice, Italy
Sindika Dokolo, African Collection of Contemporary Art, Luanda, Angola
Colecção BESA _ Banco Espírito Santo, Angola
Ellipse Foundation, Collection of Contemporary Art, Lisbon, Portugal
Emile Stipp Video Collection, Johannesburg, South Africa
Miquel Barceló, Private Collection, Paris, France
Collezione Sciarretta (Nomas Foundation), Private Collection, Rome, Italy
Rui Costa Reis, Collection of Contemporary Art, Luanda, Angola
Metropolitana di Napoli, Public collection, Napoli, Italy
PLMJ Foundation, Public Collection, Lisbon, Portuga
Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland
Kadist Foundation, Paris, France/San Francisco, USA
