The exhibitions, I am Royal by Thania Petersen, MOLESKINE®SA ART+DESIGN curated by Johan du Plessie, and, Of Nationhood / Desolation by Thando Mama open on First Thursdays 6 August!
I am Royal, Thania Petersen’s first solo exhibition
In the exhibition, comprising two sets of work, Petersen explores her Cape Malay identity, first, in a twin series of portraits, representing the inspirations and transformations of Cape Malay adornments over centuries.
“I trace the historical trajectory of forced removals from the point of entry, the sea, to further inland,” she says in her artist statement.
A direct descendant of Imam Abdullah Ibn Qadhu Abdus Salaam, known as Tuan Guru, the father of Islam in South Africa, Petersen’s work, titled ‘I am Royal’, is about staking her claim on her heritage. “I stake my claim to this lineage through classic self-portraiture, which presents regalia in a chronological process of identification, with a portait of me, as I am presently, completing the series.”
In the second part of the exhibition, a work titled ‘Barbie and Me’, Petersen exposes the conflict of religion in a secular society. In this series of portraits, she explores the contrast between religious teachings and everyday life with its many material desirables, that can often be inconsistent with the values of Islam.
About the artist:
Thania Peterson was born in Cape Town in 1980, and schooled in both South Africa and the United Kingdom due to her father being a political exile. After finishing her A-levels, she enrolled to Central Saint Martins College of Art in the UK. She later moved to Zimbabwe, then to South Korea on apprenticeships. After several years of not practicing as an artist, in 2014, she began working on ‘I am Royal’, part of which was exhibited at the Cape Town Art Fair in early 2015.
see related blog: Seven spots to see art in Cape Town
Moleskine SA Art+Design Project
IT has been the classic sketchpad and notebook for artists and writers since before the 19th century when it was all the creative rave in Paris and beyond. Now a group of South African artists and designers has been inspired to have a contemporary look at Moleskine.
The artist Johann du Plessis invited some 40 artists and designers to develop individual artworks using pages from the blank sketchbook to an ‘open theme’: ‘Introspection’. Du Plessis suggested that they explore the theme by referring to aspects of origin, home and environment, absence and loss, self-reflection, identity and individuality.
Working with the A3-size Moleskine book, each artist/designer got a maximum of four pages to use for “sketches, preparatory drawings and/or an image of the prototype in mind”. The original four Moleskine books – intact after doing the creative rounds to the various participants – will be part of the exhibition featuring prints of the different pages on which the artists worked.
The result of the Moleskine SA Art+Design Project is a vibrant exhibition that stretches image-making across many boundaries. Given the concept, viewers will be able to get a closer look and insight into the creative process of various artists and designers.
Among the artists taking part, are Luke Batha, Johann du Plessis, Andile Dyalvane, Stephan Erasmus, Helen Gibbs, Liza Grobler, Elizabeth Gunter, Pauline Gutter, Sandra Hanekom, MJ Lourens, JP Meyer, Luan Nel, Laduma Ngxokolo, Kurt Pio, Damien Schumann, Henk Serfontein, Christopher Swift, Colijn Strydom, Pamela Stretton, Michael Taylor, Atang Tshikare, Rohann Wessels.
Thando Mama’s ‘Of Nationhood/ Desolation’
HE has been acclaimed as one of the brightest of a new generation of South African art practitioners, especially creatively schooled in the mesmerising art of video, but not exclusively so. Print-making and installation is part of his process as well.
Since making his debut on the South African stage and winning the coveted MTN New Contemporaries award in 2003, Mama has shown all over the world in prestige museums. His Cape Town show is bound to draw attention.
A central interest of his art practice the past few years has been memory and remembering as critical tools in self-awareness. These are focussed on spaces, memorialisation and monuments. If these are erased, he says, what becomes of South Africans as a nation?
“Few people know, for an example, the original and meaning of the original ‘Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika’, and no one seems to want to hear the justification of singing ‘Die Stem’ in contemporary South Africa.
“Memory and memorialisation in our public spaces are becoming contested areas. Between those that are privileged by history and the disadvantaged, and between those that are memorised and those that seek basic social and economical empowerment.”
Of Nationhood/Desolation speaks to this situation.
A poignant part of this show is an installation, ‘Remember-Dimbaza’, featuring bags of soil. It represents the sad history of the small Eastern Cape village where many children died decades ago.
WHERE: AVA Gallery, 35 Church St Cape Town 8001
INFO: Odysseus Shirindza E admin@ava.co.za T +27 (0) 21 424 7436 visit
