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Arena for Contemporary African, African-American and Caribbean Art

Author: Themba Tsotsi

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Kresiah Mukwazhi: Strapped with Power

Kresiah-Mukwazhi--Chakatanga-ndicho-chakachenjedza--2021detail

The exhibition discoursed the theme of powerlessness through the stories of a sex worker who became a prophetess, Madzimai Catherine in the Nyenyedzi Nomwe Apostolic Church. Mukwazhi sought to subvert the traditional power relations imposed on women’s bodies by patriarchal structures.

Themba Tsotsi on the Zimbabwean artist Kresiah Mukwazhi
Chakatanga ndicho chakachenjedza, 2021, detail.

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Lisolomzi Pikoli

PikoliRhizomes2020

The figures in the exhibition were expressed in a way that concretized their historic circumstances as black bodies. Being immersed in a space that welcomes their lack of navigating their bodies in a culture that makes what is visual pedagogic.

Themba Tsotsi on the South African artist Lisolomzi Pikoli.
Rhizomes, 2020

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Musa N. Nxumalo: Hashtags as Signpost of Power

MusaInstallation View

Nxumalo’s exhibition was an exercise in how the black male body seeks to find a form of redemption in a culture that is gluttonous with representation and its capability to take voice and power from its subject.

Themba Tsotsi on the work of Musa N. Nxumalo
Installation view We are running out of hashtags, SMAC Gallery, 2020

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Barthélémy Togue

TogueThembaBilongueBadLuck

Toguo is an artist concerned about organic connections in times when human relationships are characterised by what is frail. Instead of making the people of Douala modern day martyrs living in the context of advanced capitalism, he created works that resonate with the rest of Cameroonian society.

Themba Tsotsi writes on the work of Barthélémy Togue
Bilongue: bad luck, 2020. Read more »

Moshekwa Langa

LangaSwimming lesson after the rains 2018

Moshekwa Langa’s work can be characterised as ‘psycho geographical mapping’, an idea that incorporated the symbolic function of the short and small brushstrokes that comprises the pieces. It also emphasises the function of the atmospheric effect of the works

Themba Tsotsi on the work of the South African artist Moshekwa Langa
Swimming Lessons after the Rains, 2018

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