The exhibition ‘Side by Side: Namafu Amutse and Candice Mouton’ is now showing at The Sweet Side of Thingz cafe and bakery at No. 5 Independence Avenue in Windhoek’s city centre. 

This exhibition was first shown in February 2023, and is back by popular demand for a second installation at a different location.

Hung on the walls of this airy, spacious cafe in the heart of the capital, the paintings and photographs by Mouton and Amutse tell their stories in a new environment.

“This unique setting offers unique opportunities, and we are delighted to invite you to an Art and Doughnut pairing on 15 April 2023 at 11h00. The Sweet Side of Thingz specialises in delicious doughnuts, and the wonderful team there will be creating a doughnut inspired by the exhibition that you can be the first to buy and enjoy at this event,” said StArt Art Gallery in a media statement.

Entrance is free and open to all.

This exhibition is the first in the 2023 Side by Side exhibition series curated by StArt Art Gallery. The premise of the Side by Side exhibition series is juxtaposition. StArt Art Gallery was quotes as saying that placing just two artists’ works in proximity presents a dialogue that creates space for unique interpretations. 

In 2018, StArt Art Gallery curated a two-person exhibition at the Goethe Institut of Namibia, showing sculptures by Ismael Shivute and Matheus Alfeus. The exhibition was titled ‘Side by Side’. Four years later, in homage to the 2018 exhibition, that title has been revived for a new series of two-person shows.

This exhibition presents artworks by Amutse and Mouton, who met while at school. They are both young, self-taught artists in the early stages of their creative careers.

While Amutse works predominantly in the digital realm, creating photographs and videos, Mouton is a painter and illustrator. Despite using very different mediums, the two artists share a similar impetus for their works on display in this show. In this exhibition, Amutse’s photographs and Mouton’s paintings portray intimate moments relating to childhood through portraiture.

- startartgallery.com