History will break your Heart
Kemang Wa Lehulere: Standard Bank Young Artist 2015
12 February 2016
Oliewenhuis Art Museum hosted an exhibition of artworks by the 2015 Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner for Visual Art, Kemang Wa Lehulere from 11 February until 27 March 2016. Entitled History will Break your Heart, the exhibition showcased works by Kemang Wa Lehulere, Ernest Mancoba and Gladys Mgudlandlu, as well as works made in collaboration with the artist’s aunt, Sophia Lehulere.
The exhibition took its cue from the works of South African artists Gladys Mgudlandlu, Ernest Mancoba and writer Rolfes Robert Reginald ‘R.R.R’ Dhlomo. Employing strategies of remembering and re-enactment, the exhibition presented the fractured personal narratives of these artists in relation to Wa Lehulere’s own work, and questions the detrimental effects of society’s collective memory, or rather amnesia, on the lives of these artists.
Working within the genres of video, installation and drawing, History will Break Your Heart explored intimate narratives that spoke of the contradictions inherent in personal versus collective memory. Audiences had the opportunity to experience the artist’s object-filled installations comprised of fragments of worn-out school desks, combined with upturned gumboots with gold-painted soles. The pairing of these objects made reference to South Africa’s profoundly imperfect education system and the Marikana Massacre of 2012.
In his own words, Wa Lehulere described the exhibition as “a protest against forgetting”. In this sense, the exhibition seeks to uncover the narrative that lies forgotten between memory and history. As an action against the omissions of history, Wa Lehulere’s art remains clearly grounded in the present; the past and future are however implicated in its content and physical appearance. Central to his creative process is the act of erasure, exemplified by his ephemeral chalk drawings and the reinterpretation of discarded objects. Through his manipulation of materials and objects, Wa Lehulere was able to skillfully transform the notion of time into something tangible.
The exhibition also showcased a film that documents the artist’s excavation of forgotten murals by the self-taught artist, Gladys Mgudlandlu in Gugulethu. Another film incorporates footage from one of the last interviews with South Africa’s first black avant-garde artist, Ernest Mancoba.
A comprehensive monograph published alongside this touring exhibition traced the trajectory of Wa Lehulere’s artistic production. This book contains letters and interviews with the artist by leading critics and cultural commentators, and was on sale at Oliewenhuis Art Museum throughout the exhibition.
A version of the exhibition has been installed at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth, the Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg and Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town. After its stint at Oliewenhuis Art Museum, the exhibition travelled to the Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg (19 April - 25 June 2016), and the University of Potchefstroom Art Gallery, Potchefstroom (14 July - 18 August 2016).
Kemang Wa Lehulere presented a walkabout of his exhibition at 10:00 on Friday, 12 February 2016.
Oliewenhuis Art Museum is a satellite of the National Museum, Bloemfontein, an agency of the Department of Arts and Culture.
22 сен 2024
