BODY – PLACE – SPACE

from ART TIMES NOVEMBER 2021 EDITION

LOOKING AT LONG STREET AND

3rd Year Student Exhibition / Artist Proof Studio JHB. Opening 4 November 2021

Above: Emmanuel Matlala, Tlantlhagane, Linocut, 25x35cm, 2021 Opposite Page: Lungile Mbelle, The Healing, Etching, 99.6x69.5cm, 2021

For the past 18 months art students across the country have had to adapt to hybrid communication learning, with reduced contact studio time, WhatsApp engagements and scheduled online meetings. They have attempted to navigate - often in isolation - the challenging terrains of developing and underpinning a concept that is relevant and engaging. Whilst simultaneously navigating all that comes with surviving the social and economic instabilities and inequalities of living in South Africa. This has been compounded with the harsh realities of a worldwide pandemic.

This space has become an incubator for them to re-examine their own identities, through an investigation of their culture’s ideologies, practices, personal and collective histories. 22 artists are represented in this exhibition. Some celebrate and honour fundamental aspects of their cultural identities whilst others question prevailing patriarchal traditions. In many of the pieces, the ‘personal’ is laid bare. This is sometimes explored through representations of the body or a particular place and space. The notion of ‘home’ as a state of mind or something less representative and tangible emerges in the senior student work.

This exhibition is a showcasing of work from three levels of senior Artist Proof Studio students. It marks and narrates a journey experienced by many through lockdown and beyond of introspection, probing and reconciliation. Opening 4 November 2021 View and Buy online www.artistproofstudio.co.za Sponsored by Absa