16 shots – a testament to Musa Nxumalo’s distinctive visual vocabulary - Bubblegum Club

16 shots – a testament to Musa Nxumalo’s distinctive visual vocabulary

Musa N. Nxumalo previously known for Alternative Kids is showcasing 16 Shots at Smac Gallery Johannesburg. His latest body of work consists of 16 photographic prints, a continuation of his current project The Anthology of Youth.

Nxumalo defies the stark divide between social documentary and fine arts photography with his exhibition 16 Shots. His focuses on the black youth of South Africa and their experiences, which he documents with calculated ease.

The artist plays a double role within his own practice, acting as both the author and the witness to the scenes he portrays with a perspective that cannot be matched.

When looking at Anthology of Youth you realize that Nxumalo is in fact a part of this youth he portrays. Quite masterfully he moves the viewer from his or her private home into the spaces that form a part of his world. These places are spaces where the contemporary youths, his peers, reign.

With his clever lens he shows the viewer how he perceives the contemporary youth often depicted as disinterested or youth activists. His work and process suggests an overlying of the personas etched by society.

16 Shots is a carefully curated collection of photographic prints unified as a vision of the alteration in context and concerns that the contemporary youth in South Africa is faced with.

The images selected for the exhibition include photographs captured during the recent #feesmustfall protests and are included in the body of work as Nxumalo identifies himself as mediator, carrying over the voice of young South Africans with his intimate and honest photographic observation.

The protests are something that affected young people significantly, and for that reason he felt like it spoke to him. He saw the opportunity to carry over the voice for this generation with his lens.

The images recorded during the protests do not display detachment and are definitely not for pure documentation purposes. These images are not the kind of images you would see on the cover of any South African newspaper. They are loaded with emotion and a visual vocabulary distinctive to Nxumalo’s work.

16 Shots is thus not only a photographic witness to the protest, but is joined in the same space with imagery that presents club life in Johannesburg. Unlike the party imagery you would see from places like Kitcheners, a new intimacy is at play here.

A rawness and honesty that form a part of Nxumalo’s point of reference as a Sowetan born artist engrossed in the kasi punk scene.

A rhythmic pattern is evident in the curation of the exhibited images by Tshegofatso Mabaso, curator at Smac Gallery Johannesburg. Meticulously she choreographed the combined series consisting of still life, portraiture and moving bodies to create what can only be described as a dance of imagery.

The idea of movement is further emphasized by the use of sound installation and a disco ball. The images seem to come alive as light from the disco ball playfully teases over areas of the gicleéprint.

Mabaso and Nxumalo have created a space where the images and scenes come alive with an interactive exhibition. The viewer is taken into the party scene portrayed with the use of white balloons; a universal element often found at a party. Here the artist encourages the viewer to kick his balloons and to become a part of the world he captures.

The title 16 Shots refers to a song title by the American rapper Vic Mensa that had the police brutality debate in the United States as its focal point. References from the song are used as a collage together with noises from the protest as a sound installation in this exhibition. Nxumalo makes a link between the suffering of American youths with that of his South African peers in the #feesmustfall police confrontation.

The Anthology of Youth is a showcase of imagery documenting moments in the lives of South African youths that are immensely personal and border on secluded. Nxumalo’s records open a world to his audience that they might never otherwise encounter. This ongoing project is now an online multimedia archive depicting South Africa’s contemporary youth.

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