At Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York, Serge Alain Nitegeka presents Configurations in Black, an exhibition that continues his exploration of displacement, migration, and identity through abstraction.
Born in Rwanda, Nitegeka was forced to flee his home at 11 during the 1994 genocide, beginning a years-long journey across multiple African countries before settling in South Africa. His experience of movement, restriction, and adaptation remains central to his artistic practice.
The exhibition presents a striking interplay of color and form through paintings and sculptures that embody both restraint and intensity. Using the visual language of minimalism and geometric abstraction, Serge Alain Nitegeka repurposes modernist concerns with color, line, and space to interrogate the enduring personal and also political consequences of forced migration.
Rooted in his own experience as a refugee, his work constructs—and at times physically imposes—barriers, obstacles, and borders that challenge the viewer’s passage. His compositions, whether on canvas or in sculptural installations, conjure fragmented, obstruction-filled landscapes that evoke the disorienting reality of displacement and statelessness.
Rendered in black and brown, Nitegeka’s silhouetted figures appear in dynamic states of movement—reaching, bending, crouching—suggesting migration, labor, as well as endurance. Stripped of facial details or defining features, they transcend individual identity, embodying the broader human struggle of forced exile.
Overlapping planes of color create ambiguous spaces that feel simultaneously confined and expansive, heightening the tension between presence and absence. Some figures fade into the background, their forms dissolving into surrounding shapes, reinforcing themes of instability and impermanence.
Beyond his artistic concerns, Nitegeka’s personal circumstances continue to shape his practice. Despite his international recognition, he remains legally stateless in South Africa, limiting his ability to travel. As a result, he is unable to attend many of his own exhibitions, including this one. This restriction mirrors the themes of confinement and forced separation that appear throughout his work.
Over the years, Nitegeka’s approach has evolved, but his core themes remain consistent: the fragility of belonging, the weight of displacement, and the adaptability of the human spirit. Configurations in Black reflects his continued effort to translate these experiences into a visual language that resists easy interpretation yet remains deeply resonant.
Configurations in Black is on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery through March 8, 2025.
