Press Release

​新闻稿

Yang Mai Solo Exhibition: 怀抱 (Hold Me in Your Arms): 在非洲 - Held by Africa 

​

Exhibition date: January 2024 - Ongoing

Venue: Erdemann Chinese School, Laikipia Rd, Kileleshwa, Nairobi, Kenya

​

To celebrate artist Yang Mai's six-month experience in Nairobi, Kenya, this long-term exhibition features his large-scale installation created in Africa.

Mai's art practice has been marked by an exploration of identity, freedom of expression, and beauty norms, topics that have garnered discussion across the United States, China, and beyond. Since July 2023, Mai has moved to Nairobi to continue his artistic journey by creating a new body of work inspired by the search for the joy of nature and intricate cultural relationships.

'怀抱 (Hold Me in Your Arms): 在非洲 - Held by Africa', created in 2023-24, is the latest and fourth edition of the '怀抱 (Hold Me in Your Arms)' series, created in 2021 for the first time. In Mai’s Nairobi studio, he transformed over 200 Chinese school uniforms, sourced from hustle Kenyan markets, into a majestic, suspended structure. Some uniforms, a canvas of personal narratives - names, ambitions, secret yearnings, and defiant doodles - subtly rebel against the stitched school slogans that echo a monotonous chorus of conformity. Through filling, connecting, and stitching, Mai’s work blends local elements with his signature reinterpretation of functional industrials, bridging dialogues on identity and societal structures.

​

​

Support By

Project Coordinator: Zhenzhen Guan

Artist Assistant: Simon Mutua

Installing Team: Simon Mutua, Samuel Onyango, Victor Riziki, Wilberforce

Photo: Huiqin Hu

Sponsor: Chi Yang, Erdemann Chinese School 

Copywriter: Zhenzhen Guan

Story by the artist Yang Mai