Acaye Kerunen: Neena, aan uthii

Image: ©️ Acaye Kerunen, courtesy of PACE gallery, London.

‘Neena, aan uthii’ (Translated from Alur as See me, I am here), Acaye Kerunen’s first-ever solo exhibition in the UK features a new body of sculptures, sound installations, and performance that interlace living forms of knowledge embedded within Ugandan communities. 

Kerunen’s multidisciplinary practice encompasses visual and performance art, curation, and activism. The sculptures Kerunen has created for ‘Neena, aan uthii’ are vivid tapestries of embodied knowledge, incorporating a diverse range of natural materials and techniques that demonstrate her ongoing commitment to climate-conscious practice.

Kerunen collaborates with artisans across Uganda’s sixty-five primary communities, sourcing materials such as palm leaves, banana fiber, sisal, and barkcloth. These natural elements, prepared through processes like braiding, weaving, and dyeing, carry deep cultural and ecological significance. Transformed in her sculptural assemblages, they shift from their functional origins into conceptual explorations of material, process, and surface. The artist likens her works to “simultaneous equations,” intricate systems where weaving patterns and sung performances embody mathematical precision. Across Uganda’s textile traditions, knowledge of pattern, number, and form is passed down through generations, evolving with new interpretations. Kerunen’s installations celebrate this living heritage, subverting traditional harmonies to highlight its timeless ingenuity.

Color and time play vital roles in her practice. Deep indigos, tangerines, fuchsias, and greens emerge from dyes derived from roots, flowers, and grasses, reflecting Uganda’s ecological diversity. Time manifests through her tactile processes—knotting, threading, and weaving—as acts of both creation and remembrance. These works record rhythms of labor and environmental change, offering an alternative archive that resists colonial and patriarchal temporalities.

PACE Gallery, London

Closes 22nd February '25

Free entry

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