Photography | Curation
Joel Lukhovi is a Kenyan based visual artist working primarily with lens-based media. He graduated in Literature Studies from the University of Nairobi. Earlier while at engineering school he got interested in cinema then photography, which he has actively dedicated himself to.
With photography and literature, he continues, in a unique position to respond, visualize and interpret new ways of representing images by grappling with socio-political and cross-cultural topics. He explores place of memory and representation where he has taken a contextual approach. His work imagines transitions and parallels of society and practical approaches to the photograph.
Joel completed a fellowship at Sasa Nairobi Art Fellowship 2024/25 facilitated by Goethe Institut – Kenya. His work looks at the linkage between photography, the archive and ways in which the two influence our perception and the understanding of histories and self. It explores diverse happenings with photo albums as preferred ways of interpretation in relieving insights about family life in the 21st century. Besides, interrelation of space and matter remain a focal point to examine history through the visual language of family photographs.
He comes to address formations and deconstructions as to what makes an image derive its meaning. Archival records bring to light a set of materials; that give photographs purpose of existence. Taking a form of social commentary, his photography covers patterns of everyday life. Often a time, they are references of self-discovery or rather imagined experiments.
By attending artistic and curatorial residencies and workshops in Nairobi and abroad, a growing aspect of his practice is the ability to curate interventions that promote exchanges across traditional and modern platforms. His use of shapes, objects and patterns become visual elements that define his work.
In 2016 at the British Institute in Eastern Africa, Joel explored together with other artists, the politics of food, ways food has, and continues to form, and give shape to multiple, contradictory, sensorial experiences and insights into urban living. Later, together with ten artists, he exhibited Frontiers of the Present curated by James Muriuki at Circle Art gallery.
Besides co-founding PiCHA museum, he is working on a duo project – African Cityzens – a transcontinental photography movement exploring trans city journeys and spatial exchanges. The emphasis of the collective allows the artist to engage and create works that often reflect individual approaches into new spaces. The artists confront the physical, political and emotional aspects of city. Integral to the exhibition is the exploration of community. The in-movement project has traveled across eastern and southern Africa regions with a special presentation at the 2017 Lagos Photo Festival.
Joel employs emphasis on the importance of technique, process and presentation of his work. In 2023; Image & Exploration showcased family archival work at Goethe Institut that informed of the life and journey of photo albums with a personal feel. It explored the purpose and role of photographs in an African family setting. Besides, it aimed at formulating alternative ways through which photographic material may be approached as evidence of histories.
He is inspired by the dynamic power struggle of identity and shifting currents of everyday social dialogue. The audience gets the opportunity to reflect on consumption habits and the impact of globalization on local communities. Joel Lukhovi looks at the promise of a rather “better” picture.
In 2024, Joel undertook a curatorial residency at FOAM museum of photography, Amsterdam with focus on African photography. The program expanded scope on emerging curatorial techniques of contemporary times that merge memories, shape the present and project the future. He has contributed as a guest lecturer for a seminar at KaTHO – NRW University in Paderborn, Germany. Together with Paderborn City Archives, he examined the purpose of photo archive together with family albums.
In Othering & Otherness 2024 at Raum fur Kunst, Paderborn Joel asks, how can one make the making of photography look? Imagining and making is a practice that grows out of inquiry and the actual forming. Joel shares his deepest thoughts in picture formats as he questions results from the making. Here the artist examines its evolution while relating the movement to historical and cultural contexts that have emerged.
His solo exhibition Own Form 2018 organized by Afrikultur at the Multicultural Center in Stockholm explored precious reflections of matter and unexpected ideas of unlearning. This photographic work remains a collection of the organization. Whereas in 2015, on a month-long residency between Zurich and Konstanz, Joel exhibited an installation of 50 photographs at the Theatre Konstanz in Germany. The works remain a collection of the theatre.
Joel has shown work in Tanzania, Uganda, Sweden, Germany, Nigeria, UK and France. In addition, he has exhibited in his home country Kenya. His work has been published and collected widely. He continues to collaborate with artists, educators and cultural institutions. Joel is a global recipient of the prestigious Intercultural Encounters Award, by the government of Austria.