Above- “Colours of the Musical Sounds 1” Acrylic on canvas, 2013

By F. Lennox Campello

A few years ago, when I was first exposed to Shiri Achu’s artwork, I described it as “Powerful African Art in a marriage of contemporary skills with strong African imagery”, and she was also one of my Top 10 artists at the 2016 ARTOMATIC.

From a recent news release about her latest venture, we learn that Achu was born in Cameroon, and together with her family “immigrated to London when she was a child and where she found her passion for art and started painting at a tender age of 9 years old. Today she actively paints and exhibits around the world and has studios in the UK, Cameroon, and in the USA, where she currently resides.”

At the recently concluded ARTOMATIC, I ran into this exuberant and enviably talented artist, and learned about her 10th Anniversary InPrint exhibition.

From there we learn that Shiri believes “Art comes from, unsurprising, yet unexpectedly vivid moments, times, places and objects. I aim to capture the spirit of my subjects and make them come alive through form, color, texture and tone.”

One of the aims of Shiri Achu’s art is to “showcase and promote Cameroon and African cultures worldwide. Shiri finds beauty in the woman carrying her child on her back and going her way. She finds beauty in the old lady who makes her ‘achu’ in her dark, smoky outdoor kitchen for her grandchildren. She finds beauty in African fabrics. She finds beauty, envy even, in the young girl climbing the tree, so, she paints these images. Shiri’s paintings reflect the beautiful simplicity of Africa and she offers this to the World to promote, and increase understanding of the cultures and the people.”

Are you ready to be astounded about what a hard-working and dedicated artist can do?

Her upcoming show 45InPrint marks her 10th ‘InPrint’ Exhibition, with ‘InPrint’ being an annual series of exhibitions for the past 9 years.

For each, Shiri chose a focal destination city to exhibit her art and to showcase and expose the African culture to its citizens. The first of the InPrint series, 35InPrint:LONDON took place in April 2014 at The Strand Gallery in Central London. 36InPrint:DC took place in May 2016 at Gallery A in Washington, DC. 37InPrint:AUSTRALIA took place in July at Mama Jambo in Australia. 38InPrint:JAMAICA took place in August 2017 at The Regional Headquarters of the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. 39InPrint:TORONTO, took place in November at Ariilon, Toronto, Canada.

After that, three exhibitions titled The 40th Act – took place in London August 2019 at St Augustine’s Tower – Hackney, London, the second 40th Act – Washington DC took place at The Cameroon Embassy in Nov 2019. The third and final The 40th Act – Douala was programmed for Dec 2019 but faced the Covidian pandemic.

This also meant that 41InPirint:WORLDWIDE was a virtual exhibition which took place in April 2021. The online exhibition featured a host of special guests daily including American soul singer Angie Stone, renowned Jamaican Dub Poet Mutabaruka, Nigerian movie industry pioneer, actor Zack Orji, and revolutionary Cameroonian musician Witty Minstrel among many others. SYNCED exhibition synchronized The 40th Act – Douala with ‘42InPrint:DOUALA’ at gallery MAM in Douala in 2021.

Are you beginning to see what a resourceful and adaptive artist this tornado of a woman is?

There’s more, 43InPrint:YAOUNDE took place at The National Museum in Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon in November 2022, and more recently 44InPrint:DOHA Private view took place on The ‘Signature’ Yacht.  Following that, it was opened to the public on 19th – 20th of April 2024 at Manha Avant Garde Art Gallery at The Pearl Island, Qanat Quartier, in Qatar. Amazed yet?

45InPrint:DMV will consist of 45 framed and unframed signed limited editions of Shiri‘s art prints. Throughout the 10 weeks long period, Shiri aims to host some special events such as a workshop, books launch, a taste of Cameroon dinner party, an auction, and closing it all with a fashion show.

There’s more! Shiri also launched a campaign (titled GROUNDED) on the 30th of June to raise money toward completing a school floor in Santa, Cameroon. 45% of every entry fee or 10th Anniversary gift will be put towards this GROUNDED campaign. Also, 10% of every art sale, merchandise sale, etc. throughout the 10 weeks long exhibition will be put towards this campaign.

The exhibition will be at the Ven Hotel at Embassy Row, Washington, D.C., located at 2015 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC 20036. There will be a Friday 12th July Registered Guests Opening Reception before the exhibition is open to the public on Saturday 13^th, 12pm-10pm. The Exhibition will be open daily from Sat. 13th July – Sun. 8th Sept. 2024. Please call the hotel before you visit, in case there is a private event.  There will be a closing party on Saturday 7th Sept., 4pm-10pm.

Please visit her website at www.shiriachuart.com for details.

About the Author: F. Lennox Campello’s art news, information, gallery openings, commentary, criticism, happenings, opportunities, and everything associated with the global visual arts scene with a special focus on the Greater Washington, DC area has been a premier source for the art community for over 20 years. Since 2003, his blog has been the 11th highest ranked art blog on the planet with over SIX million visitors.