Issue 216

‘You don’t have to produce a certain kind of “art” and you don’t need validation from certain kinds of institutions.’ – Ajamu  

In the January/February issue of frieze, Kevin Brazil profiles Brixton-based photographer Ajamu, whose solo exhibition at Cubitt, London, opens in early 2021; Jane Ure-Smith interviews the painter Michael Armitage on the occasion of a major show at Haus der Kunst, Munich; and Vincent Fecteau answers our questionnaire.

Profile: Kevin Brazil on Ajamu 

‘The darkroom teaches you that maybe waiting, and nothing happening, can be enough’. In his darkroom in Brixton, south London, the photographer Ajamu celebrates the

pleasures of community and the Black male body

Conversation: Jane Ure-Smith and Michael Armitage

‘I only have a sense of belonging in Kenya’. With a solo show at Munich’s Haus der Kunst, the Kenyan-British artist Michael Armitage speaks with Jane Ure-Smith about the canvas as conflict, his painterly East African influences and founding an experimental arts space in Nairobi.

Also featuring:

Susan Bernofsky contributes ‘1500 words’ on her experience translating the words of German novelist Thomas Mann. Carson Chan’s essay explores artists’ elemental turn towards water and alchemy. Plus, a dossier on the history of domestic exhibition spaces in Los Angeles with contributions from 10 artists, curators and dealers, including Taylor Renee Aldridge, Liz Craft, Diana Thater and a commissioned photography by Janna Ireland.

Columns: Mirror Image

Artist Barbara Bloom speaks to Evan Moffitt about the use of mirrors in her works and the nature of perception; Priya Khanchandani looks at the phenomenon of the ‘cyborgian face’ in an age of Zoom, and contributing editor Barbara Casavecchia remembers designer and artist Enzo Mari. Also, in anticipation of its final series, Alissa Bennett watches every episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007-2021) and Christy Lange examines the rise of ‘deepfakes’.