Art exhibitions not to miss in April

Re Gona | Berman Contemporary South African Art

SA artist, Cow Mash (Kgaogelo Mothepa Mashilo) is presenting her solo exhibition, Re Gona, a sculptural installation that draws on lineage. The title responds to “le kae?” (How are you?) and translates to “we are here” in Sepedi greetings. In Sepedi, as in other Bantu languages, no-one stands alone, people speak of themselves in the plural, because every person represents their entire community. RE GONA becomes Mash’s ‘we-ness’ in her ancestral ties, and support systems. The imagery in the work centres the woman farmer, connected with her second name, Mothepa. Her great-great grandmother, from whom she received her second name, was a black melon farmer. In the Sepedi culture, it is believed that the inherited name carries omens from its previous owner, or in its meaning. Mash investigates the elements of farming and nurturing the land metaphorically in her work, through the farming Cow|Woman.

Re Gona is on at the Berman Contemporary South African Art gallery until April 14. The gallery is open Monday to Friday 9am - 5:30pm and Saturday 9am - 4:30pm. 

How to Eat the Sun and the Moon | Goodman Gallery Johannesburg

How to Eat the Sun and the Moon is Rio de Janeiro-based artist, Laura Lima’s first solo exhibition on the continent. With it she explores Brazilian mythology, nature and the transformation of materials over time through a series of new large scale textile pieces. Working across installation, cinema, textile and performance, Lima engages intimately with materiality, often inviting organic matter, degradation and the passage of time as agents in the formation and long-term existence of her works.

The exhibition is on at Goodman Gallery Johannesburg until April 24. The gallery is open Tuesday to Friday 9am - 5pm and Saturday 9am - 2pm. 

The Geometry of Solitude | Goodman Galley Cape Town

New York-based artist, Alfredo Jaar’s artistic practice centres on what he calls “exercises in representation.” His solo exhibition, The Geometry of Solitude, focuses on his early body of works dedicated to the refugee experience. With it he employs different visual and conceptual approaches, with the aim to make people and their circumstances visible. The work was motivated by the crisis of thousands of Vietnamese exiles (named boat-people) who sought refuge in British Hong Kong from the late ’70s to the early ’90s after the Vietnamese war. This comes through in the installation titled Fading.

The Geometry of Solitude is on at Goodman Gallery Cape Town from April 6 to May 15. The gallery is open Tuesday to Friday 9am - 5pm and Saturday 9am - 2pm. 

Ma se Kinders and The Orange Tree of Lemenong | Everard Read Cape Town

Everard Read Cape Town is hosting two exhibitions by local young artists. Boemo Diale is the new winner of the Tomorrows/Today Prize from the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, a prestigious visual art accolade for emerging and underrepresented artists. The multidisciplinary artist interrogates inner worlds with nuance guided by spirituality and personal histories. She presents a new poetic solo exhibition, The Orange Tree of Lemenong.

In 2017, SA photographer and artist Imraan Christian launched his ongoing project Ma Se Kinders, as an effort to decolonise history by reimagining the past and the future through stories. Everard Read presents the latest edition of this series. The name translates to “mother’s children,” and started as a series of striking portraits of mythical qualities, taken in the fishing community of Hangberg, Hout Bay. It has progressed into a cosmic narrative anthology and a media entity in its own right, providing skills training that enables members of the community to add to the stories themselves.

Ma se Kinders opens at Everard Read Cape Town on April 4 and runs until April 24. The Orange Tree of Lemenong opens on April 4, with the artist walkabout on April 6 and runs until April 24. Everard Read Cape Town is open Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm and Saturday 9am - 1pm.