Motherboard II
Michael Soi
January 5 - October 22nd, 2022
Motherboard II - Michael Soi
Artist statement
“I want to create work that highlights women’s issues in Africa, particularly issues that relate to how men view women here and how they treat them. It isn’t an interesting topic for a lot of people who view my work due to the fact that people here would rather not talk about this. They would rather bury their heads in the sand and pretend that these things do not happen. This work highlights the role that has been assigned to women as implements of joy, pleasure and a means to an end to be enjoyed by men. This is a subject that I have had an interest in for a while now and the aim is to influence how men view and relate to women.”
He lives and works in Nairobi – Kenya.
Michael Soi
B.1972 Nairobi, Kenya
Lives and works in Nairobi
Michael Soi's canvases narrate contemporary life in Nairobi. His work provides a visual diary of Nairobi through a satire of social, economic, and political trends. He explores relationships - intergenerational, interracial or what he calls the economics of love, commercial sex work and popular culture within the context of globalisation and hyper-consumerism. His brightly coloured pop art style paintings with black outlines are illustrative and playful, influenced by the strong tradition of cartoonists whose works have satirised Kenyan society since independence often bravely poking fun at the political establishment. Soi studied fine art in Nairobi and has exhibited internationally.
