Author: Dzunisani Ngobeni

Series – Dithapelo Tsa Barapedi

Cradling a candle and matches, Kekana steps through air thick with Thandiswa Mazwai chanting Thongo Lam. She kneels in a corner of the room, flicks the match aflame, and sets the flame over the candle. The flickering light, steady on the floor, illuminates more than what the eye can see. Kekana sits with it, listening. This practice of prayer has been the hallmark of her time at the Makwande Art Residency in Nice. She ends her first studio experience in full circle – with good company. The certainty in her identity as an artist and the depth of her offering in her latest collection – Di Thapelo Tsa Barapedi – cast a long shadow over the Alexandra artist who landed here 6 weeks ago.

Born in Johannesburg, and raised by a protective single mother, her landing in France thrust her into dazzling unfamiliarity. Kekana describes feeling – Black, something she’d never had to consider as a native in her own country. Her first 2 weeks were charged with such a sense of otherness in skin colour, language, and navigation. Her culture shock and disorientation needed to be given room to breathe instead of being swallowed whole with a gulp of gratitude. In choosing to not betray herself, Kekana allowed the discomfort of her early days in residency to cast her into a cocoon. Novel experiences, no matter how opportune, can be jarring. It takes courage to realise this and give ourselves the space we need to adjust in order to show up authentically.

This process birthed her first piece – THE BUD SLOWLY OPENS. ‘This piece symbolises my state in the first quarter of the residency. The foetal position depicts the vulnerability and nakedness that comes with growing in new soil. I had to adjust to new people and learn to communicate even when I feared being misunderstood.’

The fog of otherness soon dissipated in the heat and kindness of the Mediterranean summer. The lucidity allowed a stream of inspiration and a surrender to Spirit. She began to narrate her experience of the people and places she encountered, finding threads of inherent human dignity. ‘I Became a vessel to receive and consume everything around me. That’s when my next piece THE BUD BLOOMS developed. It opened a flow in my process and the pieces that followed came with so much ease.’ THE BUD BLOOMS is acrylic and canvas perfection. It bears Kekana’s signature markings of circular strokes and deep hues. Her ability to create contrast within a singular colour, stretching it for tints and tones is ingenious. The figures are postured in a manner that keeps their positional integrity no matter the angle or rotation of the piece.

Her comfort with solitude and meditation is her channel into intuition. She describes silence as prayer when you don’t know what to say, communicating with herself, God, her ancestors. In this series, the renowned sentinel figures lack eyes, a choice she made after meeting the words – ‘the eyes are useless when the mind is blind’. Contemplative living is what elevates Kekana above her peers at such an early stage of her career.

Her arrival in France was a long-awaited manifestation of what she’s always believed about her talent and what her mother has always hoped for. A wide river of femininity runs through the collection, watering works such as ODE TO SARAH and BLACK MADONNA. The current of her mother’s love and unwavering support is a recurring theme in Kekana’s life and works. Being raised by a single mother is not unique to her, 18 million South African households are headed by single women. Despite the need for a more ‘secure’ career, her mother has remained the steady flow of encouragement upon which Kekana’s vessel sails into the international art scene. In a township notorious for entrenched inequalities and social ills, creating masterpieces in a 20-square-meter bedroom is a triumph. A triumph she cannot claim without honouring her mother and the Divine Feminine that has always guided her.

Kekana is the third and youngest recipient of the Makwande Art Residency. Her selection follows a relationship fostered with residency founder Nomaza Nongqunga Coupez. The residency not only selects for talent but for artists who show the disciplined markings of an invested commercial creative. The residency afforded her a private studio space for the first time in her practice, a far cry from painting from her bedroom. Acquired in partnership with LA Station, the collective art space allowed her to create in community with others. With more space and the curation of various gallery and museum visits, she emerges fully fledged, producing works on a scale not seen before.

Kekana is an impressionist of Spirit. Where Monet could hold the same subject to different lighting and moments; she holds Spirit to different manifestations, painting atmosphere, painting another realm into our world. Between the opulence of pastel curated buildings, the unsettling homelessness, gleeful tourists, the nocturnal emergence of the native residents… a spectrum of human condition threads her experience of Nice. The need for and importance of connectedness to self, others, and the environment are unmissable in her works. We are all praying, seeking, being sort, bo bohle re barapedi. She effortlessly articulates universal resonance.

The long axis of the studio wall and floor supports a series of portraits titled – Self. ‘I was the muse behind these works. I was working hard and giving every waking minute to my work. With limited time and a tight schedule for research, I was feeling rather overwhelmed despite support from Nomaza and my mother. I stopped creating and deciding to feel what I was feeling. I took pictures of myself in these raw poses and emotions, I didn’t try to dim down what I was feeling at the time.’ She immediately worked out the emotions with charcoal and canvas and a series of shear emotive translucency emerged. Brene Brown explains that ‘Vulnerability is life’s great dare…. Often the result of daring greatly isn’t a victory march as much as it is a quiet sense of freedom mixed with a little battle fatigue’.

A 200cm/100cm piece takes centre stage on the long wall of the studio – a multifigure painting of deep oil and oil sticks on canvas. The still movement draws you in and calls for your own rhythm. The piece bears its conceptual origins from Martisse’s – The Dance, and Mariam Makeba’s – Pata-Pata. This closing piece pays homage to Kekana’s transcontinental influences, the celebratory arch of her residency. The figures, holding space for themselves while holding each other in joy convey the heart of – ‘Pata-pata is the name of a dance we do down in Johannesburg way, everybody starts to move as soon as Pata-pata starts to play.’

Miriam Makeba beams through the studio, we dance among oiled masteries, celebrating Kekana’s incredible journey and sure future.  She blows out the candle in gratitude, gracefully closing her residency.

References

The eyes are useless when the mind is blind – Mark Venturini

Statista. (n.d.). South Africa: number of female-headed households, by province. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1363435/number-of-female-headed-households-in-south-africa-by-province/#:~:text=Number%20of%20female%2Dheaded%20households%20in%20South%20Africa%202021%2C%20by%20province&text=In%202021%2C%20around%207.6%20million [Accessed 5 Sep. 2023].

Brown, B. (2012). Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. London: Penguin Books Ltd.

It is a mighty feat to gather one’s roots, to pull yourself out of firm soil in pursuit of creating work far beyond our consciousness and time.  Lesego Seoketsa’s residency journey is the time-lapse of a blooming garden. Oh, how lush, how beautiful.

Seoketsa’s residency begins with her seeking to expand her series ‘Amacici’, a Nguni word for ‘earrings’. The series aimed at exploring one of Seoketsa’s repressed childhood longings for adornment and beautification discouraged in her religious upbringing. In dressing her expressionist characters with striking, larger-than-life accessories, she confronted the dogma of modesty and the patriarchal policing of women’s self-expression through dress. It was also an ode to the township women she grew up admiring, who despite unimaginable challenges, asserted their inherent dignity and identity through personal style. This work, transplanted into the French Mediterranean context, takes to new depths.

Set on the coast of Mandelieu La Napoule, the residency apartment lays at the mercy of a sea as blue as the sky. Promenading along the French Riviera in the spring is a feast for the senses. Medleys of wild, blooming flowers accent terraces, purple bougainvillea hug doorposts, and tip-over balconies. The flowers have much to teach in their determination to adorn life despite the elements or obstacles. Seoketsa sees their essence, and the full embodiment of their purpose – to simply be. The wildlife has thawed and is abuzz, in symphony with a basking accordionist. Streams of people meander past each other, dining leisurely in cafes, at ease. In this cosmic collision of the Mediterranean’s nature and culture, a new colour pellet, reminiscent of 70’s art, emerges.

With the residency only a month and a half long, time and her experience of it quickly become pivotal. Centring herself in the present moment is her anchor through the waves of past fears and future anxieties. In fully inhabiting her ‘now’, she allows her environment to carry her process, to see with cleansed eyes. She is worthy and her work is enough. She says of the journey, ‘When I started Amacici I was exploring repressed desires. I have walked the length of that experience and have emerged free of beliefs that no longer serve my authentic existence. Adornment is no longer the centre of the paintings, but the accessories are still featured as signifiers of themes such as time and how it gives us the ability to measure our growth.’ She represents this with surrealist Cartier watches, inscribed with mantras of learned experience. Through memory and emotion, she time travels to a younger self, borrowing from vibrant yellow poppies to depict a child in dress, naïve and pure. Seoketsa’s vibrant pellet calls in the audience of bees and ants we see fossilised in her paintings.

Many women in developing nations have little respite from the demands of life, making simple pleasures a luxury. She observes from coastal French women the daily practice of gathering beauty and joy, of investing in ease and rest. Their essence and confident translation of personality into dress and jewellery, inspires the evolution of her abstract female form. What began as portraits in ‘Ámacici’ evolves into fully formed, bold, black figures, dressed in luxurious colours. ‘’I wanted to memorialise black women, such as my mother, in contexts of ease and leisure. I wanted to place black bodies in an environment of abundance and softness. Their aura and postures are a nod to Malik Sidibe’s photography.’ Seokesta says.  

‘A new place forces you to let go. You can’t stay the same because your environment informs the decisions you make. I have had to graft myself into a new way of life, to expand my identity.’ This change is evident in stronger 3-dimensional oil works on larger canvasses. ‘The residency has accelerated the development of my artistic technique and conceptualisation. I have achieved in a month what would have easily taken a few years.’ She beams, her renaissance palpable. 

The works are to be exhibited in the winter of 2023, in London. She hopes that they spark hope and reinvention in collectors and enthusiasts. A reminder to simply be. Black women can be resilient and soft all at once. When asked what she looks forward to about the exhibition, she replies, ‘I wish for new eyes, to see the works as the audience would see it.’ It is the desire of all artists to meet again for the first time. Her vulnerability is inspiring, her work is transfixing. Oh, how lush, how beautiful.

It’s a late Sunday afternoon, I make my way through Battersea Park in autumn twilight, and a forgiving breeze spurs me on towards rays of gentle sunset. I arrive at Pump House Gallery with the common relief of finding something unfamiliar.

Annie and two other visitors stand adjacent to the door. I am caught in her eye view as I make my way towards the entrance. Her lingering gaze draws an awkward ‘hello’ from me, and I hear my name stumble out of my mouth by way of introduction. Once inside, I am immediately assaulted by the myriad of ways in which the interaction could’ve gone better, and how I should watch another YouTube tutorial on networking and meeting new people, lol. I spent the rest of the time seized by her easy manner, her generous smile, and her eruptious laughter. (‘eruptious’ is only defined in Urban Dictionary, use with caution’).

The talk starts swiftly afterward on the ground floor of the gallery.  I have come to see the art, to hear Annie speak about her process but I am also curious about Tabish Khan. The pair are as unpretentious as they come. Tabish, with a standing reputation for championing emerging artists, loosely guides the conversion and our gathering through the 3-story gallery. His conversational tone projects our focus onto the works and artist. The evening is a moment of collective improvisation, unrehearsed, stripped down.

Curator, Francesca Dobbe, completes the hosting trio. She takes us through her choices and journey with the pieces, oscillating between thick inspiration and the practical influences of a given space. She is unimposing, her hands aiding her speech, drawing out her thoughts before us.

A marble-until-you-touch-it sculpture sits heavy on the floor. When Annie asks a visitor to touch the piece, Seed Pod rocks freely, revealing its deception. The marble-like work is carved from firm foam and coated with resin to give the glamour of trophy material. It is an introduction to Annie’s imaginative guile to which she warns – ‘nothing is quite as it seems’.

A similar technique of material disguise is seen on the second floor with the piece Predator 1. A seemingly thorn-edged, robust female plant turns soft and squishy to the touch. It takes a second for all our minds to connect what we see to what we feel, and swoon in chorus. Predator 1 bears the allure or danger of clitoral features, an ode to ecofeminism.

The Triffids exhibition explores the boundaries between human and non-human forms, imagining a post-apocalyptic takeover by mutant plant life. It invites us to decentre human life and see ourselves as co-inhabitants within the earthly and universal ecosystem.

Annie’s, like that of her plant subjects, is a story of emergence and the cultivation of a thriving career in the last 4 years. She explains that when creating, her vision is so clear that she is often certain of the result. What excites her is the surprises that come with the process and being able to improvise and find new ways to express an idea. A note of playfulness strengthens her work, allowing it to exist in its own right, independent of showmanship.

If you ever have the chance to, her world is a place worth walking into.

Note to self: The exhibition ties well into my personal theme of play and curiosity as tools for finding creative avenues. I am inspired to think of how my work can hold opposing ideas/sensations/experiences while maintaining aesthetic harmony.

Triffids

Artist: Annie Travorah. Curator: Francesca Dobbe. Advisor: Kensu Oteng

Harrison Tipping is the living emission of radioactive focus, and I am caught in its radius.  His energy permeates my phone’s screen ionising atoms along the way and transforming all matter into believers. It takes an immense amount of courage to pursue a career most have failed in, to know that you are one of the millions but still believe that you are one in a million. His courage is undergirded by a mother who saw his luminous talent early on and a father who’s grown to appreciate his light.

The rolling hills of Wales nurture tufts of grazing sheep and hug the buds of growing hope. It is here that a young Harri formed the tenants of hard work and sacrifice. Where his orienting arrow was set towards home and family. Here where his people became his reason, his ‘why’. Where their pride and happiness now anchor his journey across the Atlantic.

When we speak, the budding actor is in New York, a former student of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. In his short film ‘Stand To’, he writes about and portrays a young soldier returning from war. He says ‘I wanted to investigate the subject matter of PTSD. I wanted to portray the effects of trauma on veterans and their loved ones with whom they must navigate a new life.’ Harrison’s commitment to the character is potent. We pan across a soldier’s shaven head and mustache developed for the role and close up into his melancholy. We see the soldier’s tragedy but also the love that tethers him to life. The film holds up a mirror to those who suffer without words but also a window for those seeking to understand. ‘I was overwhelmed by the response from viewers, particularly from veterans who felt the film was a realistic portrayal of their lives. I was grateful to have been able to create something that resonated with their community.’

‘I act because I have been fortunate to have a passion and to be in a position to pursue it. I am curious about what it feels like to be someone else.’ Being well acquainted with survival jobs between bookings he says, ‘Even though it can be challenging, I try to not get tied up in the impossibilities.’

Often the peak of one conquered mountain is the base of the next big mountain. He recalls his experience of recently acting in a feature film in Texas among some of the best performers of our time. It would’ve been easy and even understandable to shrink and do as the director dictates but his greatest lessons were that ‘I am in charge of my character’s narrative as much as anybody else on set. The best art is about collaboration and I had the chance to bring interesting character choices to the role. I was grateful for the autonomy I was afforded on set.’

Gratitude tunes his heart and accents our conversation. One of his bucket list items is to give back to the family, friends, and strangers who have helped him along the journey. He recalls a survival job in a garden center with an elderly woman whose wisdom and influence he still holds deeply. Of course, he would also like to travel more and take on new adventures working ‘..on projects that touch and resonate with people who don’t have the voice or platform to tell their stories’.

I am curious about the slower moments in his life. He takes me through a memorable food experience of Caribbean jerk chicken and rice stuffed into a carved-out pineapple. As he describes the market scene and food, his pupils widen, and there, just beneath the surface, is a pure moment of joy. A joy that he nurtures through exercise, the occasional bath bomb, and gifting others.

Harrison’s hunger, passion, and talent are galvanising. From his modified method approach to character to his profound awareness of community, you can’t help but be caught in his radiance. His energy permeates my phone’s screen ionising atoms along the way and transforming me into a believer.

What dreams burn you in your sleep, stir you up in the morning, and chase you through the day?

Selah