Michael Armitage, (Hardcover)

<b>Highlighting powerful new paintings and sculptures by Michael Armitage, this catalogue showcases the artist's poignant, timely, and profoundly humanistic works.</b> <p>Kenyan British artist Michael Armitage's work weaves real and imagined histories into powerful reflections on contemporary social and political life. <i>Michael Armitage: Crucible</i> presents a selection of recent works exploring journeys across borders and the broader experience of displacement. Many of the artist's paintings on Lubugo bark cloth--a traditional Ugandan textile used in funerary rituals, which he has employed for more than a decade--depict scenes from a migration route stretching from the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea toward Europe. These works, both intimate and epic, consider migration not only as movement across geography but as a condition that shapes identity, memory, and belonging. </p><p>The volume also features a series of bronze-relief sculptures inspired by the Stations of the Cross, reimagined to center migrants and the displaced--figures often marginalized within contemporary society--within a shared cultural and spiritual narrative. Armitage's direct, emotionally charged imagery invites viewers to reflect on how migrants are seen, represented, and understood today. </p><p>Published to accompany the exhibition at David Zwirner New York, the catalogue includes an essay by Marina Warner on the role of myth in Armitage's depictions of arduous journeys, and a text by geographer Joshua Jelly-Schapiro examining global and local patterns of migration. Two poems by Warsan Shire, including a newly commissioned work, offer lyrical responses to the themes of the artist's practice.</p>

• Michael Armitage, (Hardcover)
• Author: David Zwirner Books
• ISBN: 9781644231791
• Format: Hardcover
• Publication Date: 2026-12-15
• Page Count: 180