The Island of the Others offers a glimpse into Mia Ntenta’s dystopian world and the intricate symbolic language she has developed to deconstruct existence. The immersive installation brings together two central bodies of work within this universe: The Omegans Project and the Plutus concrete sculptures.

 

Set within an illusory sanctuary, the installation resembles a cave—an immersive space inhabited by imagined, hand-cut faces arranged in quiet, concentric density. At first, it offers refuge: a soft geometry of color and form. But beneath its calm lies a charged tension. As viewers step inside, they become the subject of the gaze—a solitary figure surrounded by the many.

 

These cartoon-like faces seem playful, but they do not smile. They witness. Suspended in stillness, trapped in a moment of great despair, the crowd reflects the burden of being watched and the existential discomfort triggered by the presence of Others. What begins as communion transforms into confrontation. Beneath the utopian surface emerges a deeper philosophical tension: to be seen is to become conscious of one’s own existence.

 

Through this encounter, Ntenta probes fundamental philosophical questions—what does it mean to exist? What does it mean to be, especially in relation to the gaze of others? And how do we coexist within the persistent awareness of the collective? The Island of the Others is, at its core, a meditation on existence, being, and our coexistence with Others.

 

Three brutalist Plutus sculptures—named after the Ancient Greek word for wealth (πλοῦτος, ploutos)—stand as anti-capitalist totems. Stark and imposing, they serve as warnings against hollow ambition and the pursuit of wealth devoid of creation or meaning. Their presence intensifies the installation’s critique of greed and superficiality.

 

Ntenta’s cave is no retreat from the world—it is a stage for existential reckoning. In its quiet, the question shifts: not what do you see, but what does it mean to exist under the gaze of the collective?

 

The faces belong to The Omegans Project, an expansive and ongoing series begun by Ntenta in 2019. The project will culminate in the creation of 10,890 unique Omegans, pushing the limits of her imagination. To date, 2,000 Omegans have been completed. These works will circulate only within major museum collections and will never be privately owned, remaining a unified, inseparable collective.