The Great Repair: umunyu is an exhibition that expands notions of repair through perspectives from the fields of art, design and architecture. A body of ten repertoire works from The Great Repair exhibition – previously shown in Berlin, Paris and Malmö – is presented alongside sixteen contextually resonant works selected by munyu.

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The Great Repair: umunyu is an exhibition that expands notions of repair through perspectives from the fields of art, design and architecture. A body of ten repertoire works from The Great Repair exhibitions – previously shown in Berlin, Paris and Malmö – is presented alongside sixteen contextually resonant works selected by munyu. 

Munyu is a type of salt made from the ashes of dry plant matter, which goes by many names in many different cultures and has many uses – from food preparation and medicine, to spiritual practice. using the word munyu refers to munyu the salt, the ashes, the space and the people. In Kiswahili when the prefix ‘u’ is added before a noun, it becomes a collective/abstract noun, referring to an idea. umunyu is not a word that exists, it translates to an idea/abstract concept that references munyu. munyu-ness.

umunyu is defined as a methodology that engages with material that is present in everyday life and a system of production that is embedded within this way of living.

munyu is contrasted with magadi, a word that is used in Swahili and some rural areas around Nam Lolwe to refer to salts made from plant ashes. Magadi also refers to the mineral known as Trona, which occurs naturally in the area of Lake Magadi and is mined to produce soda ash. These different uses of the word magadi can be read as a distancing from the ultimate means of production, the land. 

 With the concept of umunyu, repair is exploratively  broadened and signified as a state of being, active processes or practices that are accessible and commonplace. It calls for the anticipatory consideration and calibration of space, time and the conditions of living, aiming for transformation rather than the return to previous states of being.