In Venice, Michael Armitage’s paintings are an emotional retelling of the political climate
Gameli Hamelo | Wallpaper | 31st May 2026
Armitage was Nairobi born and raised, but then trained in traditional London and now paints images that reflect these very different environments. Socio-political and identity issues are prominent, represented in a style that mixes the documentary and the dream-like. Painted in rich colours on highly textured bark cloth his work has a “lyrical, cinematic” quality. Such images, says Armitage, don’t “speak for somebody [but] speak to something”.