Jackie Karuti

Karuti's work departs from drawing whereby the moving & projected image is considered & used as a way to generate thought. Her practice is founded on ideas around looking, image construction, knowledge production & the depths of possibility enabled by radical imagination.    

Her recent studio work dives into a formalist exploration towards image construction through the dimensions, duration, volume & acoustics occupied in the projection, motion & weight of an image.

‘Looking at animals’ is used as a method to give form & structure to drawings developed from visits to the Amsterdam Zoo (Artis). The link between animal, cinema and zoo architecture locates the zoo as a site of intervention whereby these cumulative glances & the repeated act of looking is understood as gathering evidence.

The animals are also viewed from a distance. Therefore, distance here is not only regarded as measurement but also to mean a record from the past & how one views any species as spectacle, exotic or alien.

This work in progress will be presented at the 2024 Rijksakademie open studios.

Programming films for educational purposes also responds to her practice. She recently convened The Journey of the Hyena at the Rijksakademie in April, 2024.