The late afternoon sun illuminated the unusually serene courtyard of Rosebank’s Universal Studios as I walked across it to meet and interview Mandisi Dyantyis, a pivotal figure in contemporary South African music, known for his fusion of jazz, Western classical, and African indigenous music. The multi-award-winning artist has a reputation for operating with a quiet…
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…
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…
“The record of thoughtful play becomes a play” Fred Moten, 2021. All Incomplete “Now, the story can begin. / Hear this: you proud, you wounded, you short of breath, you blinded by tears, you with a foot upon your back. / We do not wish to tell the story of an African tragedy / Nor…
Lianca Heemro is a trans-disciplinary artist from Cape Town. Her work is centred around past and present socio-cultural as well as socio-historical issues as they relate to Coloured identity in a South African context. Lianca works specifically with the lineage of memory from a this aforementioned view point. In her work, we see connecting elements…
Pulling on threads from the UK, Mozambique, Sweden and South Africa, Lesela Collective is looking at the material narratives of the African continent by exploring the countless sequences embedded within the field of textiles. Creating a new archive that is keenly aware of the colonial legacy entwined with African textiles, Lesela Collective members Wacy Zakarias…
In an interview with Louisiana Channel, artist Arthur Jafa notes; “pictures allow you to own things. Walking down the street you see a dead body you can’t take it home with you, but you can take a picture with you.” He elaborates: “It’s a way to access the experience or the confrontation with the thing”….
Abstract The piece that is to follow is a Song of Mo(u)rning from a place of love for my grandmother. However, it is made complicated by its location inside the House of History. With it I fabricate a ceremony of re/membrance and healing. With it I enter into the History House packed to the ceiling…
You are guardian of a treasure, Oh, just like a sleeping serpent And you shall see, I shall make you Spin around like that sleepy snake. ― Rumi Blue pigment stains the surface of ghostly white shadows. Empty sockets witness while tongues are tied in unspoken secrets. Things Left Unsaid is Olivia Botha’s solo show…
Having started as an abstract project between Dr. Tegan Bristow and Jepchumba, the podcast series Future Lab Africa has emerged with a new direction. Initially set up as an online space to explore projects and discourse around digital art and technology around Africa, the new season, Future Archives, expands on the aim to unpack Africa’s unexplored legacy…
A human body lies covered in what appears to be thick, solid pieces of cutout paper. The body is fully covered; barring from the knee down. The image has all the components that engender a sense of familiarity. However, something is off. One of the legs is twisted and both are lifted —suggesting that the…
