Belgium-based artist Otobong Nkanga presents I dreamt of you in colours in Paris, a compelling exhibition that weaves together her signature exploration of memory, identity, and the natural world. Drawing deeply from her own personal history, Nkanga creates a rich visual language of humans, landscapes, and the entanglements between them. The show brings together a series of photographs and drawings spanning her career, highlighting recurring motifs such as mining extractions and the cultural, economic, and symbolic values attached to natural resources.

Through these works, Nkanga interrogates the relationships between humanity and the Earth, emphasising both the fragility and resilience of natural ecosystems. She reflects, “I think of the Earth as a being, like our body: water, air, tree, stone, plant are beings like our body,” underscoring her vision of the planet as a living, interconnected entity.

The exhibition invites viewers to consider how histories, labor, and environmental transformation shape both land and culture, offering a poetic yet critical meditation on ecological interdependence. Nkanga’s meticulous compositions, at once intimate and monumental, highlight the tension between human ambition and the natural world, making I dreamt of you in colours a visually and intellectually immersive experience. The exhibition is on view until 22 February 2026.

Image: Otobong Nkanga, Social Consequences V: The Harvest 2022, Wim Waumans Collection, Courtesy of the artist