Johannesburg

STEVENSON is pleased to present Ukwanda kwaliwa ngumthakathi, Mawande Ka Zenzile’s 10th solo exhibition with the gallery. The artist writes:

To celebrate this milestone in my art career, I have titled this exhibition Ukwanda kwaliwa ngumthakathi. This isiXhosa phrase translates to ‘The witch obstructs the success of others’. ‘Ukwanda’ signifies the act of multiplying, growing or expanding. There is a notion in African cultures that perceives umthakathi (witch) as someone who cannot tolerate the prosperity of others due to jealousy and envy. In this view, ‘umthakathi’ utilises occult knowledge exclusively to cast curses or inflict pain and dysfunction onto individuals they disdain.

In my artistic journey, I have arrived at a juncture where it is increasingly challenging to differentiate between art practice and my existence. My journey of becoming an iTola (healer/seer) is central to this transformation. As this transition progresses, creativity emerges more organically, and innovative concepts emerge unprecedentedly. This exhibition explores the relationship between spirituality, existence, and art. Spirituality is a vital component that allows my artwork to present my audience with diverse creative sensibilities – characterized by using cow dung as both motif and material. This material is also used for healing in isiXhosa, like in other African healing traditions. Accessing the intuitive has always been a part of my art practice, and art gives us a different perspective and language - which is a philosophy on its own.

The conceptual frameworks and guiding perspectives for my creative processes are primarily drawn from my heritage and worldview. To illustrate the diversity of my work, I often integrate many techniques and materials, encompassing ‘traditional’ and conventional media such as cow dung, oil paint, hessian, earth, sculpture, photography, collage, installation, and performance. My practice inherently celebrates this tradition, deliberately contesting dominant non-African art's normative interpretations and perceptions.

My multifaceted approach to painting often integrates pictures and themes from several sources, including history, visual culture, memory (personal, social, historical, and archival), popular culture, literature, and philosophy. I aim to broaden the parameters of my creativity to the extent that knowledge serves as both a subject and a medium. This merger is entirely deliberate. I explore painting, a medium that has the power to expand understanding and meaning. I play around with the senses of sight through colour/s and brushstrokes. Art is one of those lexicons that doesn’t limit meaning to syntax, unlike literature.

Cow dung permeates our sense of smell, and that alone gives meaning to the work of art. How colours interact with each other, layer on layer, the feel of the fabric, the fabric with pigment – all these add to our sensibilities and how we receive, react to, or interact with the work of art. Nonetheless, some of my artwork has emerged from my obligation to be more intuitive. This work focuses on decolonization processes and their relationship to epistemic discourse. My formative years and socio-historical recollections shape these works, which interconnect the past and present. We are not adhering to any trends. We embody archetypocalypse-ism.

The exhibition opens Saturday 17 May, 10am to 1pm. A discussion with the artist will take place on the day of the opening at 11am.