Ubuzwe by Sikhumbuzo Makandula | Exhibition Catalogue

GALLERY & PROJECTS

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA UBUZWE 04.02.2017 – 15.03.2017

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

UBUZWE SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA 04.02.2017 – 15.03.2017 ROOM is pleased to announce the first solo showing of an installation, video based and photographic works by the artist Sikhumbuzo Makandula, under the title UBUZWE (isiXhosa) denoting the concepts of Nation, Nationalism, Nationhood.

Aligned to the artist’s ongoing interest in space and architecture and how these coalesce in the formation of memory, identity and belonging, in UBUZWE, Makandula explores the tension between monumental sites as signifiers of a nation/nationhood and nationalism (built on the back of its colonial and Apartheid legacies) and the possibility of creating a “new ways of being and of identification” (Fouad Asfour, 2016).

On his practice and its relationship to the exhibition the artist says: “ …is concerned with an intersection of the arts, politics, and public space in a post-apartheid South Africa.

This body of work seeks to deconstruct a Diktat, echoing an order or decree that must be followed and this is aided through use of symbolic gestures and apparel. The Diktat is constructed as ‘I is another’, a quote by Arthur Rimbaud, portraying multiple identities. The exhibition Ubuzwe is produced in a time when I am grappling with the question: what is the foundation of the South African nation? Through use of an installation, video and photography the ‘foundation myth’, is critiqued and represented through institutionalized forms of remembrance, including commemorative monuments and public statuary. This is in light of how South African people came to be defined and produced through the politics and culture of nationalist struggle. In conceptualizing Ubuzwe, I approached facts not in their crude facticity, but through the contemplation of which facts acquire immediacy and how. This exhibition is a psychological, historical and ideological meditation on the facts and myths of nationhood.” (Sikhumbuzo Makandula, 2016)

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Mhlahleli I 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 162 x 108 cm Edition of 3 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Mhlahleli I (detail) 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Mhlahleli II 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 162 x 108 cm Edition of 3 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Mhlahleli II (detail) 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Mhlahleli III 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 108 x 162 cm Edition of 3 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Ukubamba elentulo I 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 162 x 108 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Ukubamba elentulo I (detail) 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Untitled I 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 162 x 108 cm Edition of 5 +2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Untitled I (detail) 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Untitled II 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 162 x 108 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Untitled III 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 162 x 108 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Untitled III (detail) 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Ukubamba elentulo II 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 108 x 162 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Dictator I 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 42 x 56 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Dictator II 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 42 x 56 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Dictator III 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 42 x 56 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Dictator IV 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 42 x 56 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Dictator IV (detail) 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 42 x 56 cm

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Dictator V 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 42 x 56 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Dictator VI 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 42 x 56 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Dictator VII 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 56 x 42 cm Edition of 5+ 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Dictator VII (detail) 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Dictator VIII 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 29 x 42 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Ntaba ka Ndoda 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 108 x 162 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Untitled 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 108 x 162 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Ubuzwe I (Featuring graffiti work by Buntu Fihla, titled "nyeke kaSebe / Sebe’s Lip") 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 108 x 162 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Ubuzwe II (Featuring graffiti work by Buntu Fihla) 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 108 x 162 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

The Promised Land I (Triptych) 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 29 x 42 cm Edition of 5 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

The Promised Land II (Triptych) 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 29 x 42 cm Edition of 6 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

The Promised Land III (Triptych) 2016 Giclée on Epson cotton rag paper 29 x 42 cm Edition of 6 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Spear of a Nation Installation, suspended sjamboks, plaster of paris facial moulds Size variable Edition of 2 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

Isigidimi (Video Stills) 2016 HD Video with sound (featuring graffiti works by Buntu Fihla) Duration: 06 mins 02 sec Edition of 3 + 2 AP

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE

GALLERY & PROJECTS

ABOUT THE ARTIST SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA (born in De Aar,Northern Cape, South Africa) is an artist who works with photography, video and performance art. He currently lives and works between Johannesburg and Grahamstown, South Africa. He studied Fine Art at Rhodes University, South Africa, graduating in 2016. In 2011 he was a runner-up in the Sasol New Signatures and exhibited at the Pretoria Art Museum. Since then, Makandula has had his first solo exhibition at Njelele Art Station, Zimbabwe (2016). He has also exhibited at the Wiener Festwochen in Vienna (2015), !Kauru: Towards Intersections at UNISA Art Gallery, Pretoria (2015), Joburg Art Fair (2015), That Art Fair, Cape Town and participated in Infecting The City Festival, Cape Town. He was part of the group exhibition at Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais,Sierre, Switzerland (2014). During National Arts Festival (2014) Makandula participated in Blind Spot site specific performances, as well as Analogue Eye Video Art of Africa. In 2013 he participated in a group exhibition at Nirox Projects, Arts on Main, Johannesburg, as well as First Floor Gallery Harare, Zimbabwe during Harare International Festival of Arts. In 2012 he exhibited at the Joburg Fringe Art Fair and participated in the Art-Connect program facilitated by Visual Arts Network of South Africa, Johannesburg, and did a residency at the Nelson Mandela Museum, Mthatha in 2010.

ABOUT ROOM ROOM is an independent multi-disciplinary gallery and project-based space that offers monthly programming showcasing young and emergent artists. In September 2015, ROOM relocated to new premises on the ground floor of Ellis House building in New Doornfontein, Johannesburg.

Please visit our website to read more about us: www.roomgallery.co.za For more details please contact:

Maria Fidel Regueros - maria@roomgallery.co.za / +27 (0) 82 373 6127 Thato Mogotsi - thato@roomgallery.co.za / +27 (0) 79 543 1573 Jemma Dwyer - jemma@roomgallery.co.za / +27 (0) 11 0744944

SIKHUMBUZO MAKANDULA // CATALOGUE