Author: Mmutle Arthur Kgokong/mmutleak

Intraparadox: Interview with Lebohang Kganye

Mohlokomedi wa Tora

»On the 30 August 2018 at the Pretoria Art Museum I had the privilege of interviewing Lebohang Kganye on her solo exhibition Mohlokomedi wa Torai. The body of work that she has produced for this project gives two matriarchical perspective of her family narratives from where Ke Sa Le Teng her SASOL New Signatures winning video installation left of.

Mohlokomedi wa Tora Installation 1

Mmutle Arthur Kgokong: Thank you Lebohang for agreeing to talk to me once more. Uhm, it is a very interesting exhibition from the winning work last year. When I first saw that it is an installation I was struck by the fact that you have included your old man in this exhibition to give us that familiar element in your work. I just wanna ask you, you know, how has it been for your to create a new body of work for this solo project? Having won the prize last year, how did you produce this work?

Lebohang Kganye: I think it is daunting, I think even when I won it, I have been thinking about working in a particular way or experimenting with something very particular which was installation. I have already done it but I have never really resolved it, I have been doing it for the animation pieces and for the photography element uhm people should experience the work in that was, but I have never resolved it how to… because it was temporal, because it was softer cardboard. How to make it stand. Or be more permanent if you can say so was not really resolved. So this was great because it allowed me the time I had a good budget to kinda figure out and experiment with that. So I think it was great because I already had an idea of what I wanted to do was an installation, even though I wanted it to move, and this and this and that, but it was just such a great starting point and I am extremely excited about how this part of it is resolved

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Mohlokomedi wa Tora

Mohlokomedi wa Tora

Mohlokomedi wa Tora Installation 2

»Lebohang Kganye, SASOL New Signatures 2017 overall winner’s exhibition is up at the Pretoria Art Museum. Her 2017 winning work was groundbreaking in terms of the animation approach she used to make the video installation in telling her family’s journey to Johannesburg. The pop-up book animation effect was pervasive in twofold. While on the one hand it nuanced story telling by way of mimicking leafing through a book during reading it also recalled a stage play mode of representation. Now the results of her winnings which has to be translated into a solo project exhibitions are ready to be perused by all and sundry.

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Seluj ‘oH

From first sip of your cup; to quench the far away ending of a quest to look yonder for another love; its befitting to gesture  that it was dreamy cool.

Oh Seluj; you whose eyes sang of hope and resilience for the dreams that swelled in your delicate bosom, yet in your fragility you gesticulated that even the fragile can dream.

For a while there I came three sixty five complete. In your breath. In your acknowledgement of my soul Seluj ‘oH.

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Itshitshi

Τhere are works of art that braves to tackle contemporary issues with verve and hold water while doing so and there are those that do exactly that within the confines of a small canvas scale, as far as cinematographic time accorded them is concerned, and manage to just get it perfect, leaving no loose ends and nuancing the demise or triumphs of the human spirit for us to think about. Thapelo Motloung’s Itshitshi (2017) fits snugly into the second paradigm∇

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Telkom_LIT_TV_100 and the New Frontier

»More than a decade ago Telkom wanted to enter into the pay television foray. At that time the Soccer World Cup 2010 was just around the corner and there were pay television companies being set up to benefit from that sporting spectacle such as ODM (On Digital Media) and Sentech. Some of these licensed companies efforts would never see the light of the day despite the acquisition of licenses. Such were Telkom and Sentech’s efforts. Naspers Multichoice’s DStv established in 1995, was dominating the space as it is presently and sports coverage was, as it is today, its bargaining chip. Its future was secured«  

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The Imposter

»The consoling thing about Ferguson’s new drama series The Imposter is that the actor producer couple is not appearing in the series. Unless if a cameo appearance is planned down the line of the series airings. It would be great if the present status quo is kept as it is so that we can enjoy their craft from behind the scenes as they erect a stage for other talent to flex their muscles in the burgeoning South African television coliseum•

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Mmmmmm

optical jacket1>>> Of all the expressions that I have encountered to date on the social media networks the expression ‘Mmmmmm’ is an odd encounter. In my limited experience ‘Mmmmmm’ together with its variant expressions which are en-vogue is very illusive in its intent whether read in context or out of context. You could blame me for being insensible, however I for one have always considered this expression closer to the palate than the ear drum. Unless if somehow my wires have become undone ever since hitting the big four zero•

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The (Re)discovery of Sonequa Martin-Green

Sonequa Martin-Green sad exit from the #TheWalkingDead as Sasha Williams to be casted as Lieutenant Commander Michael Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery proves that when one door closes another one opens and sometime that door is filled with better opportunities. She holds her ground as number one to Michelle Yeoh cast as Philippa Georgiou Captain of the USS Shenzhou as the new narrative opens for the new Star Trek. Martin-Green’s convincing performance leaves no traces of Sasha Williams and she looks like she might just take the devoted trekkies where they have always wanted to go …beyond imagination (which can be translated as ‘to boldly go when no one has gone before’).

#MyRating > 3dEFPoints/5 (for now based on the first episode which proposes a myriad of possibilities for a new story)

Image source: https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/star-trek-discovery-cast-timeline-trailer/

© mmutleak 2017

Intraparadox: Zyman Amien’s “Real” lives and “Ordinary” objects

» Zyma Amien’s solo exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum, ‘Real’ lives and “Ordinary” objects: Partisan art-making strategies with garment workers of the Western Cape – Continuation  is part of the SASOL New Signatures Art Competition’s previous winner for 2016 continues the journey from where the winning work Paying Homage left off. The exhibition is a grand gesture of what the artist was preoccupied with then in a discursive journey that has also fed into her Masters studies. Presently she goes on an all out assault discourse tackling the reality of the garment factory worker. This is the exclusive interview I conducted with her on the morning of 31 August 2017•

 

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Zyma Amien’s solo exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum, ‘Real’ lives and “Ordinary” objects: Partisan art-making strategies with garment workers of the Western Cape – Continuation  is part of SASOL New Signatures Art Competition 2016 overall winner’s solo exhibition and accompanies the main 2017 art competition exhibition. A competition which historically speaking this year takes a step in an uncharted territory in South Africa with regard to this year’s winner Lebohang Khanye. Of course art by its internal nature of conception is very individualist and subjective. And as I have always said somewhere in my many conversations with both of those within the circle of this industry and those at the peripheral – it is an unfair affair from the context of competition as the artist is a product of social circumstances. The artist has to battle with social circumstances of their birth and art education in order to emerge amongst the best in a hostile industry that can proclaim you a contemporary artist at this instance only to replace you with another artist a few month later if not weeks or days. However Kganye’s win of this year’s edition of SASOL New Signatures has its merit. Talk of the charm of using a medium that was already there but pushing it further in an attempt to see what can be achieved with it. Encapsulate it with a personal anecdote and what you have is a balanced piece with both content and form intact. Although video as an art form in this country has not really taken off with the mainstream art supporting society its presence is being significantly felt here and there for its performative  mode. Like the late Dot Vermeulen before her, we are about to find out where Lebohang Kganye will take video installation come 2018 this time of the year.

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