Arthur Nyakuengama

Honours

I am concerned with the visual infrastructure of desire – what holds it in place? What allows it to thrive, or aims to crush it? How can the image of power be invoked or subverted to create desire? What sets of rules must be followed in order to break others?

Adopting the trappings of the gay leather and kink scenes, I aim to explore how image and materials shape us, and why we let them. Working with black leathers and found grids, I combine two aesthetics of control to discover how they intersect, oppose, and support each other.

Social

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Enquiries

arthur.nyax@gmail.com

Featured in tour

Artsworker Run Space →
Amorphous solids →

A photograph of an exhibition space bordered by a wooden fence painted black and a silver metal grid partition. There is a panel of leather pushing through the spaces of the grid from behind. Beyond the partition is are white walls, with two black metal and leather artworks hanging. — Arthur Nyakuengama, Press (installation view), leather, thread, partition, 85 x 45 x 4cm, 2022. Documentation by SLACK.

An photograph of black leather behind a silver metal grid. The leather is pushing through the spaces, there are impressions of fingers grasping out at the grid. — Arthur Nyakuengama, Press (detail), leather, thread, partition, 85 x 45 x 4 cm, 2022. Documentation by Siro Massimo Piovesan Cavaiuolo.

A photograph of a black metal grid embedded at its sides into a white wall. There is a panel of black leather pushing out from behind the grid, with bulky seams creating a pattern of lines and twists. — Arthur Nyakuengama, Discipline Structure 1, leather, steel grid, thread, 30 x 29 x 10 cm, 2022. Documentation by Siro Massimo Piovesan Cavaiuolo.

A photograph of a black metal grid folded lengthways in half, cinched by a length of leather woven through 3 chrome o-rings. It is hung on a white wall. — Arthur Nyakuengama, Discipline Structure 4, leather, steel grid, nickel o-rings, 43 x 31 x 5 cm, 2022.

A photograph of a short length of black belt leather nailed to a white wall. The leather is woven through two chrome o-rings and bulging outwards slightly. — Arthur Nyakuengama, Hold, leather, nickel o-rings, upholstery tacks, 4 x 22 x 3 cm, 2022.

A photograph of a black metal grid againt a white wall. The grid is bent forward out from the wall, and is held in place by a vertical black leather strap with a chrome o-ring in the middle. — Arthur Nyakuengama, Discipline Structure 2, leather, steel grid, nickel o-ring, thread, upholstery tacks, 55 x 29 x 7 cm, 2022. Documentation by SLACK.

A close up photograph of boots under a shroud of black leather. The toes are polished to a shine, contrasting with the matte finish of the rest of the leather. — Arthur Nyakuengama, Buff (detail), leather, boots, stuffing, plywood, boot polish, 82 x 90 x 24 cm, 2022. Documentation by Siro Massimo Piovesan Cavaiuolo.

A photograph of a black leather shroud over a pair of boots, sitting on a wooden floor. The toes are polished to a shine, contrasting with the matte finish of the rest of the leather. — Arthur Nyakuengama, Buff, leather, boots, stuffing, plywood, boot polish, 82 x 90 x 24 cm, 2022. Documentation by Siro Massimo Piovesan Cavaiuolo.

Arthur Nyakuengama

Caeylen Fenelon-Norris

Christy Chudosnik

Devika Bilimoria

Eleanor Newbound

Jackson Mclaren

Mardi Denham-Roberts

Thomas Retallack

Veronica Charmont

We acknowledge and pay respect to the Traditional Owners of the lands upon which our campus is situated, the people of the Boon Wurrung and Woi Wurrung, who have created art, made music and told their stories here for thousands of generations. We also acknowledge and extend our respect to the Traditional Owners of all lands on which our work is viewed, shared and enjoyed, and to all Elders, past, present and emerging.

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