Kunsthall Stavanger presented Creations of Care, the first solo exhibition of British artist Nnena Kalu outside the UK. In the year of the exhibition, Kalu was nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize and was later announced as the 2025 winner. We warmly congratulate Nnena Kalu on this remarkable achievement and are proud to have presented her work at Kunsthall Stavanger.

Kalu’s work took the form of large-scale sculptures and series of drawings. At Kunsthall Stavanger, Kalu took over all galleries in her largest exhibition to date. Here, she presented a new series of sculptures created specifically for the space and finished on-site. Her practice is a dynamic interplay of expressive gestures, explosive energy, and meticulous care. Through their immediacy and approachability, these works invited audiences to engage, encouraging personal interpretations and introspection. As viewers, we were generously offered a window through which to contemplate the world from her unique perspective.

In the Kunsthall’s main gallery, a striking series of sculptures filled the space. These large-scale installations resembled enormous, pregnant cocoons, brimming with colour and enveloping forms—hallmarks of Kalu’s practice. Upon closer examination, layers of textiles revealed themselves, some tightly wrapped, others pleated together with precision. Her signature neon pinks and yellows dominated the sculptures, interspersed with a vibrant mix of other colours.

Kalu’s sculpting process begins with urgent, frenzied wrapping: fast, intense, instinctive—before transitioning into a more deliberate, measured approach. In the early stages, artist and material seem to merge as she rapidly builds, models, and makes intuitive decisions on form and colour. As the initial burst of energy subsides, she shifts to careful consideration of how the materials work together. Her sculptures incorporate everyday, often discarded materials such as Blockbuster videotapes, textiles, fabrics, tape, and drainage pipes. While their affordability plays a role in their selection, every material is deliberately chosen and their abundance aligns with Kalu’s energetic and prolific process.

The act of binding, pleating, and layering speaks to Kalu’s process of creation: a balance of urgency and care, of instinct and intention. Her sculptures appeared to nestle, nurture, and protect. Kalu’s creations are a loving manipulation of materials; through the binding and pleating of fibres, she brought and held them together. The concept of care sit at the heart of her practice, seen in the careful cultivation of something until it is ready to enter the world. This notion may have resonated with the experience of motherhood—the devotion poured into nurturing an idea, a concept, or a life.

Kalu’s works are visually distinct, yet they are not created in order to achieve a specific aesthetic. Rather, they were physical responses; intuitive, immediate, deeply personal. Each work captured a moment, a state of being, an imprint of time in the artist’s studio. The momentary nature of her work was particularly evident in her drawings, displayed in the smaller galleries.

The sophistication of her drawings was defined by expressive, rhythmic lines. Kalu often drew with her eyes closed, responding mainly to the sound of the pen, pencil, graphite, or oil pastel meeting the paper. Here, an almost internal rhythm drove her. These works spoke to presence, each mark existing as a record of the moment in which it was created.

Her drawings, often created in sequences of two, three, or more panels, may have appeared identical at first glance, but each contained subtle differences. Kalu exhausted a form through repetition, then moved on, rarely returning to a previous motif. Repetitive motion, often associated with autism, was a defining element of her sculptures and drawings. For viewers, this repetition could be meditative, inducing a sense of calm and focus. Some works evoked the warmth and security of the womb, while others exploded outward, reaching beyond their confines. The layering of colours and forms invited us to experience the work through sensation rather than analysis.

Kalu’s practice is inextricably linked to her unique perspective and experience. As a Black woman with limited verbal abilities and a learning disability, her work offered visitors an opportunity to see the world through a different lens. For 25 years, she had been supported by ActionSpace, a UK-based organisation that provides learning disabled artists with the resources, opportunities, and studio assistance needed to develop their work. However, Kalu’s works do more than offer a window into her world, they challenge us to reconsider how we navigated our own. They pose questions about perception and movement, and act as an invitation to reflect on how we moved through life and how we care for ourselves and others. The beauty of these works lay in their generosity and in the invitation to participate that they extend to us.

When encountering Kalu’s work, viewers are often met with a feeling of joy. Her sculptures exude freedom of movement and an electric interplay of colour. They are inherently related to her body, shaped by the reach of her arms and her movement around them. At Kunsthall Stavanger, Kalu’s sculptures were suspended from the ceiling, mirroring the way she constructed them in her studio. This setup allowed her to work from all angles, inside and out, her arms continuously enveloping the form. As viewers, we too were invited to move around and within the sculptures, to experience the embrace and care infused into them.

Kalu’s works offer a rare generosity: a space for participation, interpretation, and immersion. In experiencing Kalu’s art, we did not just witness a moment of creation; we stepped into it, bringing our own presence and our own moment into conversation with hers.