BACK TO THE FUTURE

Back to the Future is a series in which Evans Mbugua celebrates the metamorphosis of his niece and nephews, whom he observes as they transition from childhood to adolescence. These portraits become the mirror of an intimate and anthropological exploration of identity in formation.
Through this series, Evans revisits childhood as a realm of future possibilities — a place where the promise of what is to come unfolds. These works offer new interpretations of that time: not as a frozen memory, but as a theatre of remembrance. The background motif in “We are All Spinning round the Same Sun” and “Lessons in Selfhood”, composed of a pictogram found in Nairobi depicting an adult and a child crossing the street, grounds these figures in a collective and symbolic space. This ordinary and universal urban sign becomes the thread of a narrative about transmission, protection, and passage.