Contemporary artist Kemang Wa Lehulere explores time, freedom and history
Kemang Wa Lehulere’s work is arguably the most accurate example of contemporary art, simply in the way that each object is constructed through displacement from its original context. He works with everyday materials, such as porcelain dogs, blackboards, and school desks, which, when recontextualised, invoke apparatuses of power and their historical effects.
As a performer, video artist, sculptor, and draughtsman, Lehulere’s work is simultaneously wild and playful, as well as controlled, erudite, and contemplative. It skillfully avoids coming across as inane or frivolous. Reflecting on history and drawings, Lehulere says: “When I am on location, searching for things that have been left behind during those forced removals, it is an interesting experiment to think of the process as some kind of drawing.” The art medium itself assumes a transcendental value.