Kapwani Kiwanga: Flowers for Africa

Kapwani Kiwanga is interested in Africa's transition from colonial rule and has spent many hours searching for archival imagery of different independence celebrations. The images, she has discovered, share one common feature – floral arrangements that range from elaborate bouquets to simple boutonnières.

For instance, Habib Bourguiba,the former leader of Tunisia, sported a boutonnière in his lapel when he spoke to a crowd celebrating independence in 1956, an event preserved in the grainy black-and-white footage of a British newsreel.

Kiwanga, who was born in Hamilton, Ont., and is now based in Paris, takes these images to a florist, asking that they be recreated as closely as possible. The arrangements are then displayed in galleries, where they are left to wilt.

Her show, Flowers for Africa, is on view until Oct. 14 at the Or Gallery,  a Vancouver artist-run centre. It's the first exhibition to recreate all nine works in the series. Kiwanga, who exhibits internationally and has a degree in anthropology and comparative religion from McGill University in Montreal, eventually hopes to include all 54 countries in Africa.

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