Michael Armitage blends historical narratives, imagery from popular media and personal recollections to explore themes of identity, displacement and cultural heritage. Often compared to magic realism, his layered compositions compress past and present, reality and imagination, creating vibrant landscapes and dreamscapes that challenge traditional boundaries of form and meaning.
 

In Dream and Refuge, a seven-colour lithograph, Armitage portrays a sleeping woman wrapped in a patterned cloth. The print celebrates the woman’s individuality and rich inner world. Her dreamscape features falling figures and a star emblem from a ship’s prow, symbolising hope and protection for travellers. On the woman’s cloth wrap, a repeating hornbill motif references a creation myth tied to motherhood and renewal. Through vivid colour and layered symbolism, Armitage crafts a poignant meditation on displacement and resilience.

 

Michael Armitage (b. 1984, Nairobi, Kenya; lives and works between the UK, Indonesia and Kenya) received a BA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art, London (2007) and a Postgraduate Diploma from the Royal Academy Schools, London (2010). In 2022, he was elected a Royal Academician in the category of painting by the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Armitage is the founder of the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute, a non-profit platform established in 2021.

 

Armitage has had recent solo exhibitions at Kunsthaus Bregenz (2023); White Cube, Bermondsey, London (2022); Kunsthalle Basel (2022); Calcografía Nacional, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid (2022); Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen (2021); Royal Academy, London (2021); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2020); The Norval Foundation, Cape Town (2020); ‘Projects 110’, Studio Museum in collaboration with MoMA, New York (2019); Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2019); Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2019); South London Gallery (2017); and Turner Contemporary, Margate (2017).