Young and vital artist: Tyra Naidoo

Wanted dives into the lives, practice and ideology of  some of the most exciting young artists living or working in South Africa today.

Tyra Naidoo was born in 1995 in KwaZulu-Natal and has been based in Cape Town for eight years. A former student at Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town, she has worked as a transdisciplinary arts practitioner in various local galleries, as a mentor for global artist residency programmes and as an independent curator.

Naidoo has also exhibited in assorted spaces, from commercial galleries and art fairs to non-profit organisation projects, and is a member of the collaborating artist group, the Kutti Collective.

Materiality plays a central role in her work as a thematic tool in navigating psychological and emotional responses to intimate sociopolitical experiences — predominately that of diasporic culture and relationships to preconceived delineations of identity. A commonality in her work is the juxtaposition of fragility and aggression, creating a nuanced exploration that presents almost neutral and balanced. Naidoo is currently represented by Kalashnikovv Gallery and will be showing with them for the 2023 Cape Town Art Fair. 

Tell me about the materials you use, and their imbued meanings, within your work?

I’ve used a variety of materials in my work over years: glass, cement, fabric, wood and metal. Materiality is a canonic part of my practice and informs the work’s conceptual trajectory. I’ve been using mehndi (“henna” being the English variation) throughout my recent works. It’s a very familiar material to me, albeit not within the context I use it in. It’s traditionally used to create a temporary tattoo effect (mostly) on women’s skin as a means of adornment in many Eastern rituals including India, Africa, Indonesia and more.

Within my experience of it as an Indian cultural ritual, it holds thematic symbolism of idealistic womanhood; it engages beautification, maintenance of tradition, taboo and eroticism. That which is then all historically tightly tied to monogamous relationships. I could go on forever about the details, links and references, but for the sake of this interview, I think one can already see the conversation a material as such would have to the scenes in my recent works. The conversation isn’t overt, none of it is simple, and I hope it doesn’t read as such.

For me, it’s an introspection of continual cyclical questioning of traditions, expectations, actions and the interests of the Indian woman as presented throughout ancient media — such as the Indian miniatures I’m referencing/adding narratives to. Lastly, I can’t resist noting the interesting symbolism of attempting to express and study the subtle violence in a medium that is so similar to blood.

Please elaborate on your work’s themes of identity, belonging and fostering safe spaces?

I won’t go into detail on these topics because the reality of these works is that they are autobiographical and personal psychological workings. They inevitably address issues of feminism and cultural identity, and the greatest gift of sharing these vulnerable personal explorations around identity and belonging is that someone might see it and feel seen back. And that fosters community, which, in my humble opinion, aids the aim of safety. I never want to take that personal perspective away from the audience by oversharing my dense intention. I’m far more interested in the perspective they bring to it.

Tell me about your upcoming work, exhibitions, projects and plans for the future?

I’m part of a collective of artists called the Kutti Collective, and we’ve got some exciting plans in the works. One I can mention is a lecture we’ll be giving at the “(In)finite affinities: Caste and race cosmopolitics” conference for the University of Berlin in early October. Personally, I am pondering a master’s proposal, which would give me time to focus on the material study of henna and its relationship to the feminine. Otherwise, I am represented by the angels that are Kalashnikovv Gallery and will be showing again with them for the Cape Town Art Fair 2023.