Seven South African artists this week made their debut at Art Basel Miami Beach in the US, which features more than 280 premier galleries from 43 countries and 4,000 artworks. The three-day show closes today.
The seven are among 14 artists whose work has been contributed by Southern Guild, which has galleries in Cape Town and Los Angeles and plans to open a third in New York City next year. The work of the award-winning locals has also been displayed this year at debut appearances by Southern Guild at the Frieze art shows in Los Angeles, New York and London.
Cape Town-based multidisciplinary artist Manyaku Mashilo uses iron-rich red ochre clay from her home province of Limpopo in her paintings, with an emphasis on Sepedi women and matriarchs, as well as themes of migration and finding community.
“My inspiration comes from the women who raised me and the ones who raised them,” Mashilo told the Sunday Times. “Their teachings were embodied in a kind of quiet, steady wisdom carried in gestures, blessings, songs and rituals. In my portraits, I try to hold that inheritance, showing how memory and ritual live in the body’s language, skin, posture, gaze and colour.”
Nandipha Mntambo, whose eclectic sculptural works are made from cowhide, focuses on the female body and identity while addressing ongoing debates around traditional gender roles.
“The photograph on show (DAN I, 2021) [at Art Basel Miami Beach] makes reference to a powerful and important serpentine deity associated with fertility, wealth, wisdom, and the foundation of the universe,” Mntambo said. “My hope is to spark conversations about fact and fiction, how histories are recorded, as well as our ever-elusive understanding of life and death.”
Kamyar Bineshtarigh was born in Iran and moved to South Africa with his family when he was 15. After graduating with a diploma in fine art from the Ruth Prowse School of Art in Cape Town, Bineshtarigh has continued to live in Cape Town, where his signature calligraphic works include layered materials including canvas, glass shards, wall paint, foil and cold glue.
Textile-based abstraction takes centre stage in the work of Kimberley-born Bonolo Kavula, celebrated for her intricate, hand-punched discs of Shweshwe fabric — inspired by her mother’s red traditional shweshwe dress.
Umlazi-born artist and photographer Zanele Muholi brings a powerful selection of images that document black queer communities and the global resonance of their visual activism.
Mthatha-born sculptor Zizipho Poswa’s voluminous ceramic and bronze sculptures are strong invocations of African womanhood inspired by her matrilineal heritage and Xhosa upbringing.
Working in assemblage, Johannesburg-based Usha Seejarim transforms everyday objects such as brooms, pegs and irons into meditative structures that challenge notions of domesticity and gendered work. Her minimalist yet deeply symbolic pieces underscore the aesthetic potential of the ordinary.
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