UBUNTU: I Am Because We Are: CHUKES, Kevin Cole, Alfred Conteh & TAFA

UBUNTU is a term that originated in the 19th century by the Zulu community to describe humanity as it relates to an individual’s relationship to others. It signifies that each of us is who we are as a product of our collective relationships. Essentially, “I am what I am because of who we all are” or “a person is a person through other people.” This can be further simplified to “I am because we are.”
This exhibit demonstrates how an individual's world is intricately woven into the fabric we call humanity. Every individual embodies the spirit of our time and the life we experience, regardless of where we live. We are defined by all lives. Essentially, we are the sum of multiple histories of many eras.
The work of these four artists, CHUKES, Kevin Cole, Alfred Conteh, and TAFA represents strands of this fabric. They are products of their generation who illustrate different but complementary viewpoints of Ubuntu philosophy. They understand themselves as a function of the “we” up to this point in time. In this exhibition, the artists distill quintessential human virtues encompassing, but not limited to: Acceptance, Compassion, Wit, Friendship, Excellence, Humility, Justice, Courage, Beauty, and Creativity. They have synthesized these virtues into portable products to view, to analyze, agree or disagree with, or simply admire.