MOSHEKWA LANGA FUGITIVE
MOSHEKWA LANGA FUGITIVE
19 AUGUST – 13 OCTOBER 2017 JOHANNESBURG
Above and previous page Untitled (Skins), 1995, multimedia installation, photographed in the backyard of Langa’s Bakenberg home by the artist
TRAVERSING WORLDS
In 2002, as part of his Fresh residency exhibition at the South African National Gallery, Moshekwa Langa
TRACY MURINIK
featured his seminal video Where do I begin? (2001) for the first time. It had been five years since he last showed in South Africa, after moving to Amsterdam to study and then work there. His previous South African showing, in 1997, had also been at the SANG as part of the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale exhibition, Graft, curated by Colin Richards. Langa had arrived in Cape Town at that time with a European film crew in tow, recording his every move including the installation of another of his seminal pieces, Temporal Distance (With Criminal Intent.) You Will Find Us in the Best Places (1997) – an elaborate multimedia cityscape of thread, wool, bottles, toy cars – which he later reproduced, notably as part of the 2009 Venice Biennale. The question that Where do I begin? poses feels as poignant an entry point into Langa’s work now as it did in 2002. Fifteen years ago the inquiry appeared to be directed around how to explain and acknowledge the multiple aspects of himself – culturally, educationally, artistically, spatially, relationally – to his varying audiences, locally and abroad, who wanted to know who he was and what his art was doing. Today the question seems to have found more self-reflexive depth as he looks back and considers roughly twenty years of artmaking. In both instances, that ‘beginning’ is invoked by reflecting on his childhood home of Bakenberg – then still a small village in Limpopo (previously part of the then semi-independent ‘homeland’ of KwaNdebele), now a larger platinum mining town – as his earliest place of personal and cultural rootedness. The title of this exhibition, Fugitive, is closely tied to this self-reflection. It bears an acknowledgement of the refuge that his art and studio have provided
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for him over these years of creative and personal
earliest radiance under the international spotlight.
maturation, away from others’ questions about
In Fugitive Langa questions, engages, connects
his existence. It also acknowledges his ongoing
with and tries to make sense of his process and his
experience as a young boy, and as a young artist
journey over these twenty years.
living away from home, in South Africa and abroad, as one of displacement at all levels of self-
connections that he makes between early and
presentation, having him feel not unlike a type of
current works are keenly considered and cited, as is
fugitive – always disconnected, somehow outside
their curatorial placement in the exhibition. At the
of the framework he found himself in; needing to
level of engaging his process, Fugitive presents a
explain details of his history and present experience
richly matured and self-reflexive expression by the
that would locate him in context.
artist of this journey.
From his earliest works, produced in the mid-1990s
Viewers are introduced to the exhibition by
when he was not yet twenty, Bakenberg became for
two works – a video piece, Martha, from 2011 and
Langa a deeply personal marker of relative distance
a diptych, Overseas I/Overseas II (2017) – that
from wherever else he found himself or felt himself
immediately set up a subtle dialectic for the show: of
or had to explain himself; a strongly formative
place and time, home and away. Of dry, dusty roads
location of belonging and un-belonging. The place
and deep, iridescent wateriness. Of worlds apart. And
where he lived for his first eleven-and-a-half years
Langa’s continual traversal of both.
has become, for Langa, a space – and an idea of a
Martha, which was shot in Bakenberg, stands
space – of continual longing; a signifier of home,
as Langa’s self-referential starting point in the
of stable existence – of his rooted self and life; a
exhibition – his context to ‘begin’ his telling of himself
place of refuge in his mind where he isn’t required
and his journey. Langa has been documenting
to explain himself to anyone: where he came from,
Bakenberg for many years, from the beginning of his
what that meant to him. And thus the relative
artmaking, tracking its residents, its landscape and
distance that Bakenberg represents as a point of
more recently its sudden infrastructural changes
evaluation for all of Langa’s experiences has become
since platinum mining began in the area. Filmed by
not only spatial and experiential, but also temporal
the artist, running with a hand-held video camera
– an imagined, longed for time of containment and
after his long-time neighbour, Martha, along the
relative simplicity and uncomplicatedness.
untarred main road in Bakenberg, the video piece
To some degree there is a conflation of the nature
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At a material level, the resonances and
evocatively captures a sense of the place – its
of place and self, key elements that Langa returns
colours, sounds, textures. It documents for Langa
to repeatedly in his work. This deeply entangled
the ephemeral state of the village on the cusp of
evaluation and registration of himself in relation to
change, holds it for him as a moment in memory of
space and time is a fundamental motif of the Fugitive
the place as he’s known it, registering the landscape
exhibition, twenty years on from experiencing his
as a tangible referent. This place, which in his earliest
Where do I begin?, 2001, single-channel digital video, sound, duration 4 min 20 sec
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Via Afrika Large Print Atlas for Southern Africa, 1994, detail from notebook
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work he mapped almost obsessively, insisting on
including floor pieces such as Temporal Distance
giving name and presence to the small area where
(With Criminal Intent.).
he was born, but which failed to appear on official
While every work in this exhibition invites careful
apartheid-era government maps of the region,
reading and proposes associations with previous
seemingly disregarding and nullifying its – and by
and other current works, there are several pieces
extension, his – existence, is in some ways Langa’s
that particularly warrant drawing out some of their
symbolic key to self.
historical-contemporary connections. These include
Overseas I/Overseas II, on the other hand – cool
the powerful presence of the suspended series of
and watery and unpredictably in flux; all shimmery
Drag Paintings (2016) that hang centrally in the
surfaces and unknown depths of layered line and
middle room, diagonally opposite Halcyon Days and
pigment – becomes that relative distance from
in relation to Declarations of love (2013/17), Metseng
the warm, knowing intimacy and familiarity of
ya batho (2016), Spirals (2016), Rikisha (Ramokone)
Martha. Rather than embodying the rootedness
(2016) and The sweet simple life ... (2016).
of a particular place, the paintings map a space of
Langa speaks of the Drag Paintings as almost
transition and anticipation, which are also important
physical remnants of the Bakenberg of his childhood
referents in Langa’s narration of his journey.
– stretches of canvas that he dragged along the
One of Langa’s very early works, Halcyon Days
ground behind a car on Bakenberg roads to collect
(1994), installed just as one enters the next part
and literally become embedded with the earth of
of the exhibition, marks another careful inclusion
that place, and then lacquered to preserve them
in reading the show’s trajectory by providing a
as what he’s referred to as ‘locked documents’,
contextual backdrop of his earliest concerns and
representing part of a physical and memory
interrogations as a very young artist. This complex
archive echoing the landscape of Bakenberg as he
collage ironically reveals and maps a colonial plot
remembers it having existed. Or the fantasy of that
to take over Africa. The work includes many of the
memory. Other works on the exhibition, such as
ongoing material devices that Langa employs going
Bakenberg Imagined I (2016/17) present similarly
forward, using multimedia including tape, printed
as part of this archive, although through different
material, drawing, text and thread to layer image and
material means.
meaning. This early piece already poignantly reflects
In the third exhibition space are two further ‘drag
Langa’s pursuit to position himself, personally and
paintings’ installed as framed canvases – Wydhoek
politically, within the landscape of South Africa and
(2016), which is heavily imbued with additional
the continent, and to explore what that means.
pigment and thread, and Bokwidi (2017). Both have
In terms of his practical process, this work and
been intensively worked, reworked and – Langa’s
others from that early phase prefigure his ongoing
word – ‘deworked’, using the natural materials and
experimentations with materials and colour, both
earth of the particular places they reference, and
two-dimensionally and in his elaborate installations,
embodying the resonance of those materials’ affect.
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But the drag paintings have a further echoed
included – that seem to supersede the discomfort
significance in Langa’s oeuvre, in that as much
and ineluctability of expressing that desire. The drag
as they infer place, landscape, map, complexly
paintings are among these works that appear to
saturated relic, rich palimpsest parchment, they also
come close to accepting the constantly unreachable,
reference Langa’s earlier Untitled (Skins) (1995) that
and embracing their expression, simply, as intimate
prominently featured on the exhibition Faultlines:
statements of emotion and declaration of where
Inquiries about Truth and Reconciliation at the Castle
the artist is at that moment. If the drag paintings
of Good Hope, Cape Town, in 1996, and which, in that
are bold and powerful objects, though, some of
context, took on a far more sinister character, as of
these other works are more softly stated, quiet
flayed human remnants.
and perhaps lightly unassuming – sparser than
Langa has noted in discussion about his work that
the other works on the exhibition, with a different
elements of self-portraiture may be read into all
colour palette and embracing a different energy.
of his pieces, as he writes himself into the histories
These are the Love Letters and the perhaps more
he infers, as well as through his referencing of
elaborate piece, which does appear on Fugitive,
what he experiences. His use of photocopies, for
titled Declarations of love. Even as the texts that
example, which recurs in various artworks over
they infer are not legible to the viewer – they appear
the years, builds a referential lexicon, as does his
as gestures rather than actual statements – their
inclusion of text, drawing and titles that locate works
intention is made evident and the simple intimacy
specifically for him, even if obscurely, or opaquely,
of their declarations rings true. The minimalism of
for his viewers. He describes himself ‘try[ing] to
line, colour and layering in these works is different to
perform being [him]self every day’ or finding
the intense layering of mark, material and text of so
himself reflecting on things he finds relevant and of
many of his works both on the show and produced
interest around him. David Brodie, in introducing this
over time – the complex registers of experiential
exhibition, commented about Langa’s process that
cues – names, titles, places, adjectives – that have
it intuits a sense of longing – something ephemeral
so regularly occupied his canvases previously, and
that remains on the periphery, just on the edge
whose titles have maintained their relative opacity.
of conscious understanding. Langa describes this
The Love Letters, instead, Langa openly titles as
phenomenon as a constant engagement and
such. Clear, but not literal in their presentation;
struggle with himself, both as a person and as
delicate, but by no means insipid, these works with
an artist on his journey, trying to find concrete,
their intimately coded texts seem to communicate
containable formulations to express that desire that
an embrace – of themselves, and their maker – in
feels constantly remote or just out of reach.
answer to that perpetual longing.
While this feels true of the entire Fugitive exhibition, there are several works – some part of this exhibition, others related to it but not ultimately
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Tracy Murinik is an independent art writer, educator and curator based in Johannesburg.
Halcyon Days, 1994, mixed media on paper. Courtesy of a private collector
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Drag Paintings, 2016, soil on canvas, installation dimensions variable
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Installation view with Overseas I/Overseas II (2017), Drag Paintings (2016) and Spirals (2016)
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Installation view with Mantlhakane (2017), Drag Paintings (2016) and Wydhoek (2016)
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Installation view with Metseng ya batho (2016), Rikisha (Ramokone) (2016) and Drag Paintings (2016)
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Metseng ya batho, 2016, mixed media on paper, 140 x 100cm
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Izinduduma, 2016, mixed media on paper, 162 x 122cm
Declarations of love, 2013/17, mixed media on paper, 162 x 122cm
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Bakenberg Imagined I, 2016/17, mixed media on paper, 162 x 122cm
Baagishane (Neighbours), 2014/17, mixed media on paper, 162 x 122cm
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Bokwidi, 2017, soil on canvas, 142 x 173cm
Wydhoek, 2016, mixed media on canvas, 141.5 x 175.5cm
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Cat on a hot tin roof (as if), 2014/17, mixed media on paper, 162 x 122cm
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The Parents II, 2017, mixed media on paper, 162 x 122cm
The Parents I, 2017, mixed media on paper, 162 x 122cm
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Mantlhakane, 2017, mixed media on paper, 162 x 122cm
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Overseas I/Overseas II, 2017, mixed media on paper, diptych, 100 x 140cm each
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Mamonwana [Landscape with Beetroot Fields and Sugar Canes], 2013/17, mixed media on paper, 140 x 100cm
Passages I, 2017, mixed media on paper, 162 x 122cm
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Wydhoek, 2014/16, mixed media on paper, 140 x 100cm
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Rikisha (Ramokone), 2016, mixed media on paper, 140 x 100cm
Kwa Khala Nyonini I, 2016, mixed media on paper, 162 x 122cm
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‘Tonsils’/Manwe uwe Buela bitseng [Verbal cure], 2017, mixed media on paper, 162 x 122cm
Spirals, 2016, mixed media on paper, 140 x 100cm
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Yasmina, 2016, mixed media on paper, 162 x 122cm
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The Love Letter III, 2016, mixed media on paper, 149 x 198.5cm
The Love Letter IV, 2016, mixed media on paper, 205 x 150cm
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The Love Letter I, 2016, mixed media on paper, 150 x 197cm
The Love Letter II, 2016, mixed media on paper, 150 x 198cm
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Shadow and Fog, 2016, mixed media on paper, 150.5 x 198.5cm
Shadow and Fog, 2016, mixed media on paper, 150 x 157cm
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Martha, 2011, single-channel digital video, sound, duration 7 min 19 sec
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MOSHEKWA LANGA was born in 1975 in Bakenberg, Limpopo, and lives between Amsterdam, Paris and Johannesburg. He studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam in 1997-98. Rising to international prominence in the late 1990s, he was an active participant in what is now considered the golden age of biennales, including those of Johannesburg (1995 and 1997), Istanbul (1997), Havana (1997), São Paulo (1998 and 2010), Gwangju (2000), Venice (2003 and 2009) and Lyon (2011). Solo exhibitions have taken place at institutions including the ifa Galleries in Stuttgart and Berlin (2014), Krannert Art Museum in Champaign, Illinois (2013), Kunsthalle Bern (2011), Modern Art Oxford (2007), the National Museum of the 21st Century Arts (MAXXI) in Rome (2005), Kunstverein Dusseldorf (2004), the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati (2003), Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva (1999), the Renaissance Society in Chicago (1999) and Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam (1998). Notable group exhibitions include Art/Afrique, le nouvel atelier, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2017); Afrique Capitales, Gare Saint-Sauveur, Lille (2017); The White Hunter: African Memories and Representations, FM Centre for Contemporary Art, Milan (2017); An Age of Our Own Making, Images Biennial, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Denmark (2016); Biennial of Painting: Yoknapatawpha, Museum of Deinze & Leie Region, Belgium (2016); My Joburg, La Maison Rouge, Paris, and Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden (2013); 12th Triennale Kleinplastik Fellbach (2013); The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds after 1989, ZKM Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, Germany (2011); Flow, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2008); Snap Judgments: New Positions in
CAPE TOWN Buchanan Building 160 Sir Lowry Road Woodstock 7925 PO Box 616 Green Point 8051 T +27 (0)21 462 1500 JOHANNESBURG 62 Juta Street Braamfontein 2001 Postnet Suite 281 Private Bag x9 Melville 2109 T +27 (0)11 403 1055 info@stevenson.info www.stevenson.info Catalogue 89 October 2017 © 2017 for work: the artist © 2017 for text: the author Covers Drag Paintings (details), 2016, soil on canvas
Contemporary African Photography, International Center of Photography, New York (touring 2006-8); Africa Remix, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf (touring 2004-7); Looking Both Ways: Art of the Contemporary African Diaspora, Museum for African Art, New York (touring 2003-6); A Fiction of Authenticity, Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis (touring 2003-6); How Latitudes Become Forms: Art in a Global Age, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (touring 2003-5); Black President: The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, New Museum, New York (touring 2003-4); and The Short Century, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (touring 2001-2). The artist thanks Martha Mbiza, Hans Langa, Manas Ratladi, Hendricka Mothapo, Mpho Maraba, Oupa Mothoa, Tshepho Mothoa, Amanda Maleka, Bethu Nkgoeng, Tshepho Mnisi, Abel Mbiza, Tapuwa, Clive Langa and Lorna Ferguson. Special thanks to the Kadist Foundation, Marie-Ann Yemsi, Bénédicte Alliot, Corinne Loisel, Catherine Drey and the Cité internationale des arts in Paris.
Design Gabrielle Guy Photography Mario Todeschini, Anthea Pokroy, Nina Lieska Printing Hansa Print, Cape Town