With a 2019 BFA from the Michaelis School of Fine Art, Bulumko Mbete’s career is on a steep upward trajectory. We’ve watched her navigate the art world with skilful finesse, infiltrating spaces that were thought inaccessible. She is the 2023 recipient of the Cassirer Welz Award and has just started her MFA at Carnegie Mellon University,…
In Mondli Mbhele’s inaugural solo exhibition, Ingoma Yothando, the artist delves deep into the intersection of African culture and the evolving lives of today’s youth. Translated from Izulu, “Ingoma Yothando” means “Song of Love,” yet it exceeds its romantic connotations, inviting us to contemplate a more profound inquiry: How connected are we, the youth, to…
“There is this burden that comes with being called a Black artist – I just want to be called an artist,” says South African-Zimbabwean artist, Richard Mudariki, one of the artists whose work is being showcased at the Zeitz MOCAA When We See Us exhibition. Zeitz MOCAA’s executive director and chief curator, Koyo Kouoh, along…
Having spent my morning watching Salvatore Vitale‘s video, I Am A Human (2023) on repeat, I rushed to our meeting at Emzini near Westdene Dam, still reeling from its lingering impact. In the café’s homely atmosphere, I began interrogating his work on contemporary societies, exploitation and digital technology, particularly within the context of Johannesburg. Opting…
In an episode of Art Angle, a podcast by Artnet News, art critic Ben Davis and Artnet’s European editor Kate Brown discussed the emerging trend of Hypersentimentalism. Based on Brown’s Artnet essay How a New Wave of ‘Hypersentimental’ Portraiture Is Serving Up Painting for the Age of Vibe Shifts and Nano-Influencers (Or: Why is everyone…
In a “post-apartheid” South Africa, sharing the stories of people of colour is necessary to challenge the representation of BIPOC in the archive. But who gets to create this archive? And more importantly, who gets to dictate the narrative of this archive? These are all questions photographer Tshepiso Mazibuko’s work contends with. Born and raised…
In the realm of contemporary artistic endeavours, few projects hold as much intellectual vigour as the School of Mutants. A beacon of conceptual inquiry and creative expression, this collective, situated at the confluence of artistry, architectural critique, and post-colonial realities, presents an inspiring narrative of engagement and reflection. At its heart lies an impassioned quest…
“There’s man all over for you, blaming on his boots the fault of his feet,” is the line from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot that inspired the exhibition An Endless Night at the Mount Nelson Hotel, in collaboration with Investec Art Fair. An Endless Night, curated by Anelisa Mangcu, investigates this innate human desire to…
On the 1st of August, the Wits Art Museum opened a solo show by Swiss/Italian artist Nicola Genovese. The exhibition titled, Sad Boy explores masculinity and the decay thereof. The day before the opening, I had the chance to interview Genovese and gain insights into his artistic intentions and material choices. The artist contemplated the…
Co-curated by Yolanda Kaddu-Mulinwa and Nisha Merit, SOIL CONVERSATIONS is an exhibition that features artists such as Lungiswa Gqunta, Mia Thom, Io Makandal and MADEYOULOOK. Fittingly, the exhibition text is co-authored by Lindiwe Mngxitama, our former editor, whose strong tenure forms the foundation upon which Bubblegum Club rests. The exhibition is an exploration of soil…
The small, everyday stories of women in our society, the caregivers, mothers, and providers, are often left untold. As a way of honouring these women and the hardships they endure, Zizipho Poswa’s debut solo exhibition in the United States, iiNtsika zeSizwe (Pillars of the Nation), seeks to highlight and honour these women. Zizipho Poswa is…
Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, many artists, academics and activists explored expressions of race and identity in reaction and response to the colonial liberation movements that proliferated across countries in the Global South. Specifically within the African diaspora, concepts of race were, and continue to be, a topic of concern. Artists, Hank Willis…
