“Improvisation is how we make no way out of a way. Improvisation is how we make nothing out of something.” Fred Moten, come on, get it! “Fugitivity, then, is a desire for and a spirit of escape and transgression of the proper and the proposed. It’s a desire for the outside, for a playing or…
What is a revolutionary act? One that moves toward revolution? Towards the complete transformation of all that we know as our own certainties? The questioning of the unquestionable? The development of what has been forgotten — of what has been annulled? Who is a revolutionary? The one who subverts the determined concepts? The ones who…
With African cultural exports like music, film and visual art rightfully taking space in global conversations about culture and the arts, there has been a boom of young visual artists from the continent and its diaspora experiencing well-deserved global acclaim. The young pharmacist in training and wonderfully talented mixed media contemporealist – Johnson Eziefula –…
Landscapes of large centres are changeable — it is practically impossible for a city or urban centre to remain the same. It is always possible to question how certain representations and “behaviours” of a city reflect a society — its changes, improvements and details especially. I think of art as a reflection and form of…
“If we refuse centralisation we must go beyond the quantitative idea of rallying the exploited for a frontal clash with power. It is necessary to think of another concept of strength — burn the census lists and change reality.” At Daggers Drawn In the book Ten Fundamental Questions of Curating, Maria Lind poses the question;…
Brünn Kramer’s Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Tronkvoël, opened at the RAW Spot Gallery of the Arts of Africa and Global Souths research programme in the Department of Fine Arts, at the University currently known as Rhodes in Makhanda on 12 March 2021. From 08 – 29 August 2021, the show which utilised the visual…
Released last week, Nope! , is Sami Schinaia’s solo directorial debut after 10 years as part of the directing duo SÄMEN. Produced by Basement, the short film is said to have been born out of the need to explore and share Schinaia’s most recent and intimate period of his life, during which he explored the…
“We face each other without terms or convenient words, with nothing to assure us about the meaning of the movement that carries us toward each other. We have to invent, from A to Z, a relationship that is still formless, which is friendship.” Jackie Wang Currently on view at the A4 Arts Foundation is Lindokuhle…
*TW: brief discussion of sexual assault and rape Femmes are often expected to perform femininity in a way that expresses softness, gentleness and sensitivity but then are quickly chastened when they sincerely embody that softness, gentleness and sensitivity. Often, their connection to emotion can be labelled as “too sensitive, too emotional, too hysterical, too, too,…
A good idea is one that is basic, unexpected and timely. A good idea features a marriage of opposite concepts and perspectives — it takes risks whilst still being simple in implementation and execution. A good idea sparks conversation but does not anger or frustrate those who already support it in good faith regardless of…
Turning to flora for inspiration, Nabeeha Mohamed’s latest body of work Brown Petal brings together oil paintings and watercolours that are rooted in experimentation. Beginning with old works that the artist felt “didn’t quite work”, the new body of work breathes new life into old splinters and shards. Unwieldy combinations of blues, pinks, and browns…
Abangani bami – Izithombe zami” (My friends – Images of me), 2021, is a self-portrait by Luyanda Zindela that celebrates the shared intimacies, fragilities and sacredness embedded in close friendship. Through a series of carefully detailed portraits, the artist compels us to consider the act of friendship as a process of collaborative witnessing. This is…
