Vrijdag 19 Augustus 2022

The first-ever museum exhibition of the young and exceptionally talented South African photographer Lindokuhle Sobekwa. Different stories intertwine in a moving oeuvre that can be seen as an autobiographical narrative, founded on the search for origins and identity. Sobekwa uses various techniques and media to support his stories, without losing his characteristic visual language. He effortlessly alternates between black and white and colour, digital and analogue, stills and moving images. In Umkhondo. Tracing Memory Lindokuhle Sobekwa (Johannesburg, 1995) combines existing and new work in order to trace the thematic lines that run through his photographs. His family, his ancestors, and the landscape in which they live on are recurring themes in his oeuvre and form part of Sobekwa’s search for explanations for past events. His moving and intimate work directs the gaze towards his immediate surroundings, to his own identity and to the related larger issues at play in South African society.

huismarseille

The South African photographer Sabelo Mlangeni (1980, Driefontein, South Africa), known for his documentary work on generally overlooked groups and cultures, shows a selection of a remarkable archive of wedding photographs for the first time. The exhibition Isivumelwano is an ode to love and community, offering a glimpse into intimate, underexposed South African marriage ceremonies. The weddings and accompanying festivities that Mlangeni has documented as a ‘cameraman’ since 1997, offer an inspiring counterbalance to the stereotypical white wedding. 70 Moving, hand-printed black and white and colour photographs with a poetic, almost mythical quality. For nearly 30 years Sabelo Mlangeni – well known for projects such as Invisible Women, and earlier on show in Huis Marseille in the exhibitions Recent Histories (2019) and Apartheid & After (2014) – has photographed marriages in South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland. The exhibition Isivumelwano is the first to present a large selection of this extensive photographic archive. The photographer captures a wide variety of rituals, traditions and celebrations in intimate images, magnifying ‘the systems we exist in (and against)’. The exhibition was created in collaboration with blank projects in Cape Town.

huismarseille

In the summer of 2022 four photographers at Huis Marseille will be demonstrating just how hard, and indeed how beautiful, earthly existence can be, the diversity of their photographic documents providing a convincing proof.
Dirk Kome – Vijf lange meden
indokuhle Sobekwa – Umkhondo. Tracing memory
Dana Lixenberg – Polaroid 54/59/79
Sabelo Mlangeni – Isivumelwano

huismarseille

Offering reimagined visual narratives from across the African continent, this exhibition showcases the work of visual storytellers selected from the African Photojournalism Database (APJD). At the core of the APJD is the mission to share refreshing and diverse stories told by photographers often overlooked by the global media industry—stories that are not widely seen in the current media landscape. Through the lenses of 16 photographers from 11 countries, nine men and seven women, this collection connects a range of views on identity, daily life, traditions and change. The APJD members share their reflections on identity, from explorations of gender in Maputo, Mozambique to reviving Amazigh heritage in rural Libya. Moments of everyday life are highlighted to provide more nuanced views and confront stereotypes, from contrasts in Casablanca, Morocco to youth and social landscapes in Algiers, Algeria. The visible impact of climate change in Madagascar and Zanzibar is underlined, and we’re also given insight into political and social change, including the 2019 protests in Khartoum, Sudan and the coping mechanisms of those who have survived terrorism in Nigeria. Stories of love and families feature strongly, from couples in Cape Town, South Africa, to the value of community in Gondar, Ethiopia. This exhibition was created in partnership with the National Museum of World Cultures to celebrate a new generation of photographers who are redefining what should be seen, through the stories that matter to them. Featuring work by Mohamed Altoum (Sudan), Salih Basheer (Sudan), Kwasi Darko (Ghana), Noncedo Gxekwa (South Africa), Nada Harib (Libya), Yassine Alaoui Ismaili, alias Yoriyas (Morocco), Amina Kadous (Egypt), Tracy Keza (Rwanda), Mahmoud M Khattab (Egypt), Jacques Nkinzingabo (Rwanda), Ayobami Ogungbe (Nigeria), Rijasolo (Madagascar), Fethi Sahraoui (Algeria), Sydelle Willow Smith (South Africa), Martha Tadesse (Ethiopia), and Etinosa Yvonne (Nigeria).

worldpressphoto tropenmuseum

Neo Matloga (Mamaila, Zuid-Afrika, 1993) maakt met foto’s, verf, inkt en houtskool monochrome ‘collageschilderijen’, waarmee hij een inkijkje geeft in het alledaagse leven in Zuid-Afrika. Vaak zijn het vrolijke taferelen vol liefde en geborgenheid die zich afspelen in een huiselijke omgeving en worden bevolkt door mensen van kleur. Zo creëert hij niet alleen een wereld waarin hij zich thuis voelt, maar ook één die hij mist in de kunst. Voor de tentoonstelling along came your eyes maakte Matloga zeven nieuwe werken, waarin hij zijn figuren mee naar buiten neemt. Ze liggen op het strand, vermaken zich in een zwembad of kaarten in een café. En terwijl de ogen van de figuren zich direct op de bezoeker richten, staan hun hoofden consequent en profil. Zo leidt Matloga de blik van zijn figuren tot ver buiten het doek, maar laat hij hen gelijktijdig een dialoog voeren met de kijker. Met de poëtische titel along came your eyes spreekt de kunstenaar beiden aan. Matloga weet, zonder een eenduidige boodschap en met een sterke nadruk op intermenselijke relaties, diepere maatschappelijke en politieke lagen aan te boren. Enerzijds benadrukt het werk de Black Joy die zelden wordt getoond, anderzijds roepen de vrolijke scènes vragen op over apartheid en racisme. Die dubbelzinnigheid is de kracht van het werk, en maakt het, volgens de jury, levendig en urgent. Gelijktijdig met de tentoonstelling in de Hermitage Amsterdam, toont Matloga zijn werk in de tentoonstelling We just want to be closer in de ABN AMRO Kunstruimte. Deze duotentoonstelling laat werk zien van twee Zuid-Afrikaanse kunstenaars uit verschillende generaties: Singarum J. Moodley (1922-1987) en Neo I. Matloga (1993). De werken tonen een fascinerend gelaagd verhaal over vrijheid en zelfbeschikking tijdens en na de Apartheid. Te bezichtigen van 11 mei t/m 30 september 2022 in het hoofdkantoor van ABN AMRO (Gustav Mahlerlaan 10, Amsterdam).

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