The land is black, and a farmer stands tall in the centre, watching over the women, cows and harvest. She finds root in the earth while her cow horns (shaped like a new crescent moon) point to the sky. A mother just initiated a child into the world, the cast at the foot of the…
Nearly a year ago, I spent a warm afternoon with one of my heroes, renowned photographer Roger Ballen at his Inside Out Centre on Jan Smuts Avenue. It’s taken me that long to finish this text, partly because the fanboy in me wouldn’t let me observe his creative process objectively. With over five decades of…
The start of art week had an air of obvious serendipity to it. Upon settling into my seat on the plane, I took out a book on curatorial practice, making my seatmate ask if I was of the arts. The book went unread, replaced by the discourse spanning the two-hour flight from Johannesburg to Cape…
When I was a young and impressionable art student, I had the misfortune of being taught by Ed Young. Jokes! 🤣 What’s unfortunate is that the brand of art he taught me to love, complete with the Maurizio Cattelans and Martin Creeds of the world was tailor made for white artists like himself and some…
The audiovisual installation ABJ by Emeka Ogboh will be showcased during the 2024 CAN at the SOMETHING venue in Abidjan. SOMETHING, founded by Anna-Alix KOFFI in 2021, provides a physical platform for publications like SOMETHING WE AFRICANS GOT, PROFILES, and Women’s Paper. This non-profit art centre, dedicated to video art, digital art, and critical discourse, is…
Cape Town’s art week is officially afoot! RESERVOIR’s open studios, part of the Investec Cape Town Art Fair‘s VIP programme, inaugurated the proceedings with an impressive array of art, skill and talent. In the heart of Cape Town, Bree Castle House—housing 20 artist and design studios across nine floors, including RESERVOIR’s 7th-floor gallery—opened its doors…
We kicked off the art fair week in style last night. Starting at Sethembile Msezane’s studio, in the company of the likes of Siwa Mgoboza, we headed to The Silo Hotel. We were attending an event for the collaboration between the Silo Vault and artHARARE, an artist-run initiative dedicated to fostering contemporary art in Zimbabwe…
Natalie Paneng’s Ke Thlogo (2023) installation stood out at the STEVENSON exhibition, I Miss Myself The Most. Paneng’s installation features a suspended chair with a miniature house, alongside a metaphorical Room Divider within a space reminiscent of familiar South African homes. With its cleverly kitsch aesthetic and irreverent play on scale, the installation subtly blurs…
From December 2, 2023, to February 2, 2024, STEVENSON Johannesburg hosts I Miss Myself the Most, a noteworthy group exhibition on memory by the promising curators Aza Mbovane and Mosa Molapo. The exhibition walkabout presented a unique opportunity to engage with the curators, artists and viewers present at the Parktown location. The intimate yet ample…
The Wits Art Museum (WAM) recently hosted a walkabout on their latest exhibition Arte Povera and South African Art: In Conversation led by Consul General of Italy in Johannesburg, Dr. Emanuela Curnis, and South African curator, Dr. Thembinkosi Goniwe. The exhibition includes two sections, and while I was excited to see the works of Italian…
This past Saturday, the Poetry Readings and Conversation brought together Gabrielle Goliath and Maneo Mohale in an event organised by the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg. Founded in 1966 during a time of unthinkable violence and segregation, seldom has the institution presented us with such profoundly embodied explorations of Black desire, sensuality, and queerness in art….
On opening night, I had the pleasure of engaging in a conversation with Stefanie Koemeda, one of Nirox Foundation’s latest artists in residence who was being showcased in the group show Layers: Rock Art Across Space and Time at the Wits Origins Centre. We had our talk just outside the Centre, right before the curator…
