MANTARAINA MBOKODO

from Art Times August 2021 Edition

by SA ART TIMES

ART PARIS 2021

MANTARAINA MBOKODO MUSING’S EXHIBITION

NWU Gallery in collaboration with Smile Artists Africa 09 August – 17 September 2021

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Phumzile Buthelezi

Smile Artists Africa, in collaboration with the North-West University (NWU) Gallery celebrates women’s Month with a showcase of the “Mantariana Mbokodo Musings” Art Exhibition.

“Mantariana” celebrates originality, unique creativity, and individual expression. “Mbokodo” on the other hand lays acclaim to the collective power and strength of women. The exhibition is therefore the perfect marriage of “Mantariana Mbokodo” as a collection and celebration of artistic work from five South African female artists, highlighting their unique craft, and the evolution of art and women in South Africa.

For Women’s Month, we examine the meaning of femininity in the modern South African context. The South African woman has historically shown her strength of character as well as creativity in finding solutions to the challenges of modern living. Women can fashion something beautiful out of any situation and this show pays homage to that, with the exhibition featuring five female artists who use non-traditional media to engage us in conversation.

The artists featured in the show are: Lerato Motau (Textile fiber), Phumzile Buthelezi (collage and found objects), Mel Madiba (pyrography), Lebohang Motaung (hair) and Nompumelelo Ngoma (drawing and painting).

In the visual arts spaces, South African women are world leading, and some of these female voices have stood on the world’s largest stages. A common thread for this achievement is their confidence and their exceptional ability to fuse traditional AND non-traditional media forms of expression in their work.

The Mantaraina Mbokodo Musing’s exhibition takes this conversation to a new level, combining the story and the setting. The MMM exhibition will feature both an indoor exhibition and an outdoor sculpture theme and take the visitor on a journey through the expressions of femininity, from creation with fire, to found object sculpture, and grand installation. The NWU Botanical gardens are the perfect setting for this dialogue. A beautiful and functional garden featuring medicinal plants, noteworthy rock structures, and natural fauna, with a beautiful exhibition hall in the middle, is the perfect backdrop for an exhibition that seeks to embrace the expression of femininity.

Mel Madiba

Nompumelelo Ngoma Lerato Motau

Lebohang Motaung

NOT ANOTHER HAIR SHOW

Curated by Tshegofatso Seoka NWU Gallery in partnership with Ms Simone 09 August - 17 September 2021

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Not Another Hair Show emerges as an exhibition derived from the dissertation titled: Hair Politics: An Examination Of The

Aesthetics Of Black Female Hair In The Work Of Select African Artists.

Written by Tshegofatso Seoka, the dissertation highlights the politics of black hair and hairstyling practices and choices, interrogating the dynamics of beauty within various socio -specific communities in Africa and the diaspora. The dissertation further discusses aspects of the black African emancipatory discourse, which develops as grand representations of blackness and black aesthetics, aggressively promoting a reductive narrative of mimicry where the specific hairstyles of black women are actively critiqued.

The dissertation further questions hegemony in the representation of blackness where singular modes of representing blackness are adopted as model. The model hegemonic representation in this case is governed by the dichotomy of the natural vs processed and artificial hair that reveals itself within a competition of the preferred model image identity and the rejected alternative.

Above: Nonkululeko Sibande, 2018, Woza Sisi. Opposite Page: Olwethu De Vos, 2021, Her Self - worth is a hundred percent.

Attempting to illuminate black women’s hairstyles as manifest of real time expressions of theorist Homi Bhabha’s notion of third space where capitalism and globalisation aid in the proliferation of new hybrid identities performed through the preferred hairstyle. The exhibition features an array of artworks stemming from multiple disciplines, inclusive of sculpture, drawings, paintings, pyrography, photography, and digital illustrations. The exhibited works are by South Africa’s accomplished and most promising contemporary artists including Nkhensani Rihlampfu, Ronald Gunst/ John K Cobra, Olwethu De Vos, Thabiso Dakamela, Stephen Langa, Mel Madiba, Keneilwe Mokoena, Phulusho Ngomane, Nonkululeko, Sibande, Samantha Maseko and Kaya Gwebu.

The exhibition aims to reflect the role of black women’s hair as a medium for creativity, a representation of social, economic, and political affiliations, source of pride and an expression of freedom of choice. The exhibition further acclaims the ingenuity of black hairstyling manifested through the creation and the continual development of new, fascinating, dynamic techniques, choices, and practices of black hairstyling.