Locality and the Sahelian Presence

For our next debut showcase in the Garden Room, we present Locality and the Sahelian Presence with Chongchiqen and the Localmen.

“This exhibition begins with the first grounding. An introduction to a practice that is still forming, still listening. What you encounter here is the first grounding of my journey as an artist."

Our reception, opening at 4:00pm, will include a DJ performance by local artist Riley Echo, alongside, followed by our evening performance by The Localmen, featuring saxophonist Pelumi and local vocalist Massah Teacha alongside spoken word performance on Locality and Sahelism.

Our gallery is an exploration of Sahelian concepts of LOCALITY:

"At the core of my work is the philosophy concept of locality that emerges from the quiet force that shapes perception through repetition, habit, and duration. It is the environment that enters the body before it is understood by language. This exhibition is working from that place. To let the environment, memory, and inheritance act on the hand before explanation intervenes.

'Sahelism,' in my work, is not merely about visual pleasure alone. It is a product of locality, an expression of the landscape, the heritage, and the nuances of the Sahel. It is the product of staying with the Sahel long enough for its rhythms, erosions, and continuities to shape the work. Rather than depicting the Sahel as an image or symbol,  I used the Sahel's presence as a source of inspiration to develop a process that would allow its presence to be experienced through the layers of paint, color, and restraint.

Each painting is gradually developed. Each mark was placed, then buried, and then returned to. Faces emerge, break apart, and multiply. Where time puts pressure on color, color becomes thin; where memory continues to retain images, color becomes heavy.

Nothing in these works attempts to find a resolution. Every work has been left in a state of being uncompleted so that each can continue to breathe

In Sahelian experience, history does not announce itself. It lingers. History disappears and reappears in different forms, yet always carries its weight. The figures within these works are not portraits, nor are they symbols intended to be deciphered. They are accumulations of gesture, of environment, of inherited ways of seeing carried forward without instruction.

"This first exhibition is not an arrival, but a commitment. A commitment to locality as a discipline rather than an aesthetic. To repetition as a teacher rather than a limitation. To a way of working that trusts time, patience, and attention over immediacy.

"What you see here is the inception of that commitment. It is an exploration of how staying in one place and doing the same work can reveal new perceptions. This is not a final statement, but an open door. The journey does not end in this space. The true life of these pieces starts not in the making, but in the residing.”

About the Artist:

Chongchiqen Pangmi is a mixed-media artist from Bauchi State in northern Nigeria whose practice is rooted in the philosophy of locality. Working with layered materials including spray paint, acrylic, ink, oil pastel, charcoal, and oil paint, Pangmi explores how place, memory, and repetition shape perception.

Drawing from Hausa cultural traditions and Sahelian environments, Pangmi’s work translates presence through process rather than representation. Their paintings emphasize layering, restraint, and return, allowing cultural memory and lived experience to remain visible without resolution. Through this approach, Pangmi affirms local identity while engaging broader questions of continuity, unity, and belonging.

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