To enter Mandy Johnston’s exhibition Gatherer at Berman Contemporary is to encounter a field of slowed attention where perception sharpens through quiet, material transformation.
- Between 9 – 28 May the exhibition will be open, and the artist will be working on installation artworks in situ. She welcomes visitors to observe her process in this time. Please contact the gallery for times she will be available.
- Exhibition Opening on 28 May from 17:00-19:00
Meaning accumulates gradually. It is gathered. The installations hum, flicker and shift, drawing attention to processes that often unfold beyond immediate perception. These are spaces of transition, where matter softens, form destabilises and the visible meets its underlying conditions.
“This body of work continues an investigation and a re-envisioning of how we mark moments and support one another and offers that we find value in the process of becoming undone.” Johnston locates herself within a transitional phase, where the intensity of fire continues to shape the work while gestures of emergence begin to surface. Within this in-between, gathering becomes a way of processing, repositioning and preparing for what follows.
Fire acts as a threshold, initiating transformation and releasing latent potential. The protea seed, which opens through heat, offers a point of reference. Yet the focus extends beyond the moment of combustion into its aftermath. Residue, ash and remnant carry the charge of what has occurred. Materials are gathered and reworked, holding both physical trace and energetic memory. The works take on the quality of textured landscapes in transit.
Like glimpses caught while moving, they resist fixed perspective. Recognition remains partial, shaped through sustained attention. Constructed from remnants of burn processes, the surfaces hold fragments of experience. Johnston approaches these as “treasures”, shaped through her own processes and those of others. Gathering becomes a shared condition, extending across influence, exchange and presence.
This notion of the gatherer draws on the archetype of the hunter-gatherer, where collecting sustains a community. Here, artistic practice operates as a form of nourishment, holding and redistributing value. It also reflects on the historical positioning of women within systems of care while reconfiguring that role through material and symbolic agency. Working within a cyclical understanding of time, Johnston situates gathering as a moment that follows rupture and precedes renewal. It is a space of recouping, where what remains is revalued. Like soil enriched by ash, the aftermath becomes fertile. The installations function as responsive environments that hold ambiguity, tension and transition. They invite a sustained engagement with transformation as an ongoing condition. In this space, gathering becomes a way of holding what has been while making space for what is still to come.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“Through my work I explore human connectivity and the fragility of existence. I employ contextual and traditional definitions attributed to materials to support these themes. For example, I often use copper wire to suggest information and energy transfer, bridging both raw material value and information value systems.
Because I am interested in contradictions and binaries I consider how something has been defined by its antithesis or the possibility of its absence and how this shifts its value and meaning. Absence often creates possibility, a once filled space for example becomes open and vulnerable to be absorbed, used, ignored or quoted. Absences are also that which exists “unseen”, such as light and shadow. Elements like fire and transferred shadows bring concepts of transience and memory to the forefront of my experiential sculptural installations. I am currently exploring alternative possibilities for rites of passage and the lack thereof in my societal context. I am asking questions around the possibility of alternative support structures to institutionalised ones and ways we can better support each other through transitions in life.”
Gather around to experience Gatherer by Mandy Johnston at Berman Contemporary – all women art gallery!
WHAT: Gatherer – Mandy Johnston
WHERE: Berman Contemporary, Silo 5A2, Silo District, V& A Waterfront, Cape Town 8001
WHEN: 9 – 28 May working on site | Opening on 28 May from 17:00-19:00 RSVP to E events@bermancontemporary.co.za | Duration 9 May 2026 – 28 June 2026
INFO: E gallery@bermancontemporary.co.za | VISIT | Instagram @bermancontemporary
