YINKA SHONIBARE CBE

Through beguiling sculptures, Yinka Shonibare CBE sparks a state of charged curiosity in considering narratives of power and reinvention in relation to the rise and fall of western empires and the struggles for African Independence. Embellished in Dutch wax Batik / ‘African’ textiles, Shonibare transforms the classical white marble bodies of historical symbols associated with the Roman and British Empires into colourful sculptures; placing the pattern directly onto the skin.

In so doing, Shonibare clashes the ideological implications of the textile with classical sculpture. Can the power of collusion and hybridisation create a third ideal that transcends prejudice? This exploration of hyphenated or ‘mongrelised’ selves prompts ways for expanding dialogues on cultural ‘appropriation’, teasing out possibilities for re-imagining modern African identities that complicate essentialist constructs of race and nationality, as well as movement of the pattern-adorned body and its connotations of sexuality, masculinity, athleticism and the ideal body.

MISHECK MASAMVU

Masamvu uses painting and drawing as a way in which to investigate human existence and our relationship to the natural world. Central to his practice is abstraction, which the artist employs to explore “the language and politics of space”. While abstraction forms an integral part of Masamvu’s practice he does not let go of figuration
completely.

Rather, his figures appear within the abstracted space he creates, attesting to his continued belief in the narrative potential of painting. For the artist, his paintings are understood as marks of existence, pointing not only to the realities of his lived experience but also to mental and psychological space, where each layer of paint or brushstroke on the canvas proposes a search to resolve conflicted experiences or decisions.

Pink Gorillas in Hell are Gods is a large scale painting that exemplifies the tension between abstraction and figuration that has become synonymous with his practice. From the teeming landscape, a group of intertwined skeletal figures can be identified. These figures are enveloped by a distorted red figure which takes up significant space within the canvas.

While the skeletal figures it envelops appear fragile and delicate, the red figure appears heavy and bodily, its weight pushing back against the seething landscape. Masamvu’s ability as a painter to convey both fragility and bodiliness is beautifully expressed in this complex and intricate painting.

In Umphanga Wesilokazi Sasentlango, Hlobo uses ribbons and leather on Belgian linen to create organic forms. The work indicates what the artist considers a “slipperiness” to the artmaking process — referencing the aspect of his practice that is formulated on the unconscious. The gestural and free-flowing arrangement of ribbon draws attention to Hlobo’s interest and fascination with water as a source that allows energy to flow.

He explains; “Water is central to our existence and everything we are. We are constantly flowing through it.”
Within his practice, Hlobo seeks to capture a feeling (or a thought) which is then illustrated through abstracted forms. Specifically, his work is imbued with meaning through the specific choices of material that have resonance to him — such as leather, copper, bronze and ribbons.

WILLIAM KENTRIDGE

For the artist, the series began by drawing what he saw both inside and outside of his studio - a large vase with flowers, as well as a few of the trees within his Johannesburg garden. Now using photographic references and drawing loosely in Indian ink by taking a good brush and another which has been used repeatedly, Kentridge’s plants are grown page by page - each page holding only a fragment of the whole. The complete botanical forms emerge more by recognition than by a pre-existing clarity as to what the plant must look like, as the pages are shifted, layered, torn, pieces added, marks added - until the tree reveals itself as complete. 

In an interview with Artnet, published in October 2021 Kentridge reflects on the images of trees as follows; “It is about allowing things to take their shape—I’m not quite sure why all these trees are being drawn. In one sense, they’re long-term self-portraits. I read somewhere a description of death that said we all grow our tree of death inside us. It starts growing when we’re born, and we have to hope that we’ll live long enough for this tree to be a great, beautiful, strong tree before it comes through us.”

PAMELA PHATSIMO SUNSTRUM

The Girls is a drawing made with pencil and oil on wood panel. Drawing from the collage technique in Pamela Sunstrum’s earlier work, it uses a layered composition to structure narrative. The clasped hands, the checked floors and the overlaid textiles are recurring motifs developed through the large scale work; Dynasty (2021), which was presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto as part of the triennial; GTA 2021.

Through this work, Sunstrum presents multiple layers that suggest an overlap between the serene and the cataclysmic — domestic elements such as doors and windows foreground the image upon which the figures sit. At the bottom of the work mountains and hills, rendered in blue, seem to be floating in water. By incorporating
different elements alongside one another the work expands outwards, suggesting unconstrained time and place.