Cape Town

STEVENSON is pleased to present Other World, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Odili Donald Odita - his fourth with the gallery.

About this body of work, Odita writes:

There is the understanding that 'otherness' defines a socially constructed space existing outside of the normal, forcibly and otherwise. I had imagined myself also speaking from this place, but I realize that I am also directly affected by all things that happen in the mainstream world, whether I like it, or not.

We are not living in separate worlds. The 'other world' is this world. There is no separation from this and that. The only separation that exists is the one that we create in our minds.

In the straight world, we are dragged through polluted forests, tangled deep in xenophobic populism, never-ending racism, and malevolent sexism meant only to extinguish all hope for any possibility of change within our world. In consequence, these circumstances have brought out both the best, and the worst in our character as human beings. Cynicism stands next to optimism in a perpetual struggle for dominance in our slow steps toward development and change.

There can exist between each bomb blast the possibility to imagine a better world lived in a different way. Within those rare moments of silence, and before the next bullet hits, we can possibly discover our strength and independence in life lived outside the confine of norms that continue to alienate and divide.

Recently, Odita exhibited Indivisible and Invincible: Monument to Black Liberation and Celebration in the City of New Orleans, a series of large flags marking sites of cultural, political and historic importance, as part of the fourth Prospect New Orleans biennial, The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp. Since his last Stevenson solo show in 2015, Odita has completed wall painting commissions for the Newark Museum, New Jersey (2017), and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina (2015), among others. A major monograph is forthcoming from Sternthal Books.

Odita exhibits concurrently with Dada Khanyisa. He will give a walkabout of his exhibition on Wednesday 23 May at 11am.

The exhibitions open on Tuesday 22 May, 6-8pm.