Johannes Phokela’s seven deadly virtues

As Johannesburg embraces the buds of spring, the African creative scene eagerly anticipates the 17th edition of the prestigious FNB Art Joburg fair. As the longest-running and leading contemporary art fair on the continent, FNB Art Joburg is celebrated for its consistent support of the industry’s development and celebration of African and diasporic art.

Among the notable participants of this season — happening from September 6-8 — is accomplished SA artist Johannes Phokela, who will present his large installation series “Seven Deadly Virtues” in the MAX section of the fair with Cape Town’s Eclectica Contemporary.

With a career spanning more than two decades, Sowetan, Johannes Phokela, born in 1966, began his artistic journey at the Federated Union of Black Artists Academy (Fuba) in Johannesburg during the country’s tumultuous 1980s. After earning a three-year diploma at the academy, he continued his studies at the University of the Arts London’s Central Saint Martins, completing a foundation course in 1987 and his bachelor’s degree at the university’s Camberwell College of Art in 1988. Phokela went on to receive his master's degree from the Royal College of Art in 1993, before returning to SA in 2006. It was here that he began engaging with themes of colonialism while studying the works of the Dutch masters, the origin of “Seven Deadly Virtues”.

Countering the seven deadly sins, the series depicts his interpretation of the seven heavenly virtues: chastity, charity, diligence, humanity, kindness, patience and temperance.

“The scriptures are there to free our minds … not to enslave us,” Phokela says. Renowned for his exploration of postcolonial identity and social justice, Phokela’s series employs symbolic imagery and allegorical figures reminiscent of Dutch Delftware. The tin-glazed earthenware, appropriated from China’s blue and white Qing Hua porcelain by 17th-century European merchants, furthers the historical perspective of Phokela’s works while beckoning attention.

Porcelain palette

“The visceral mental impact is like being at sea far away from land,” he says.

Inspired by the 1995 American crime thriller directed by David Fincher, “Se7en”, and the art of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Phokela’s series, which took five years to complete, revisits the monochromatic porcelain palette that characterised his 2023 “Original Sin” to explore the relevance of these virtues in the contemporary context. While Africa navigates issues of tradition and economic struggles, striving towards improvement, Phokela provides a space for contemplation of the virtues similar to Bruegel’s investigations of pressing economic needs of the 16th century.

The artist’s complex tableaus, Temperantia, Prudentia, Spes, Fides, Caritas, Fortitude and Justitia, evoke a sense of historical depth alongside their ethereal dreamlike quality. Soft and almost translucent, the narrative vignettes capture scenes that seem poised on the brink of something monumental.

“The idiomatic expression ‘Do as I say and not as I do’ is central to Phokela’s exploration of these virtues,” says Eclectica director, Shamiela Tyer. The works are an interplay between the surface tranquillity and the underlying fracas. Confronting the struggle of good vs evil as a core aspect of the human condition, he aims to imagine the past with the present to determine the future. 

Encapsulating this is Spes, engaging with themes of human struggle against forces of nature or fate. Meaning “hope” in Latin, Spes invites contemplation on the cyclical nature of history, where crisis and resilience are eternally found. As the most significant piece of the series, hope, Phokela believes, is the driving force for change.

“I’m just trying to remind everyone in the face of social media and the way we’re living today, with war and political turmoil, [that] we actually have principles guiding us into a faithful life, into a peaceful existence,” the artist says. Phokela furthers his point on religion saying, much like social media, it is often wielded as a tool to control and exploit the masses. “Being kind and generous is a virtue that cannot be altered, and yet it’s easy to corrupt its disposition through smoke and mirrors,” he says. He adds that, like other belief systems, the role of religion is vital for communication and the survival of society.

Phokela accepts that the true impact of his art will emerge in due time but hopes fair attendees will engage with his thoughts and draw comparisons between his ideas and their own.

The artist is steadfast in his critique of the limited financial support for African artists and calls for action. “We’re all playing our part. We need to do it ourselves. It’s the only way African art is going to work.”