Sesse Elangwe: The Road (Until August 12, 2026)

193 Gallery

9 July - 12 August 2026

193 Gallery is thrilled to present Sesse Elangwe’s first solo exhibition in Venice, The Road.

The Road explores the journey of life through the metaphor of the road, an ever-changing space shaped by movement, encounters, uncertainty, and transformation. Like life itself, the road unfolds through challenges and moments of joy, through pauses and progress, through destinations reached and paths still waiting to be discovered.

More than a physical route, the road becomes a symbol of human experience. It embodies diversity through the people, cultures, and stories that intersect along the way, while reflecting the complexity of our individual and collective paths. It reminds us that no journey is linear and that every turn, obstacle, and detour contributes to growth, reflection, and understanding.

Through this body of work, Sesse Elangwe invites viewers to reflect on their own journeys and the experiences that have shaped them. The Road becomes a meditation on the shared human experience, suggesting that while each path is unique, we are all travellers carrying memories, hopes, and stories that connect us to one another. From this perspective, meaning is found not only in the destination, but in the journey itself.

Born in 1994 in Cameroon and currently based in San Antonio, Texas, Sesse Elangwe has developed a painting practice centred on the human figure as a space of political, social, and emotional reflection. His portraits are defined by enlarged, intense gazes that transform the act of looking into a form of awareness and resistance: his figures do not simply become objects of observation, but actively engage with the viewer.

Drawing from political thought and African literary traditions, Elangwe explores themes of identity, personal growth, the Black experience, migration, and the social structures that shape contemporary realities. Through portraiture, he creates a dialogue between individual experiences and collective histories, questioning what it means to see and to be seen in a constantly changing world.

His work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the Cameron Art Museum, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, and Kunsthal KAdE, and is held in significant private and institutional collections worldwide.