Group exhibition: 'Narratives of Migration and Reclamation' at Keyes Art Mile

Name: Group exhibition: 'Narratives of Migration and Reclamation' at Keyes Art Mile
Start: 2024-07-27
End: 2024-08-24
Location: Gallery 1

Saturday Jul 27 - Saturday Aug 24 21 Keyes Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg

Architect, performer, and activist Gugulethu Mthembu looks at legacies of female oppression and representation. Photo: Venice Architecture Biennale.

The repercussions of women's migration between rural and urban areas come to light in architect and artist Kgaugelo Lekalakala's work. Photo: Venice Architecture Biennale.

Intricate weaving and beadwork hang in suspension in architect Kate Otten's curious map of the Vredefort Dome. Photo: Kate Otten.

The group exhibition Narratives of Migration and Reclamation at Keyes Art Mile's Gallery 1 showcases work by four female architects who were part of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023. From Sat, Jul 27 – Sat, Aug 24.

Themes of global and intermediate migration came to light in the projects presented by African architects Kgaugelo Lekalakala, Gugulethu Mthembu, Kate Otten, and Gloria Pavita at last year's Architecture Biennale in Venice; a keystone event in the world of architecture and design.

Now, these fascinating projects are being shown at Gallery 1 at Keyes Art Mile, giving Joburg residents a chance to engage with the complexities of spaces affected by migration, with a particular focus on the outcomes for women.

"These architects utilise their unique perspectives and experiences to create works that are not only visually and intellectually stimulating but also deeply rooted in the socio-cultural fabric of their contexts. Their projects invite viewers to reflect on the past, understand the present, and imagine future possibilities where architecture serves as a tool for social change and empowerment," reads an excerpt from the exhibition statement.

Meet the participating artists and find an overview of the works on show in Narratives of Migration and Reclamation below.

Kgaugelo Lekalakala, Tales of the Vulnerability of African Women in Transit

The repercussions of women's migration between rural and urban areas come to light in Kagugelo Lekalakala's work. Photo: Venice Architecture Biennale.

Mpumalanga-born Kgaugelo Lekalakala is a young artist and architect. In the surreal collage work she took to Venice, Tales of the Vulnerability of African Women in Transit, she explores how women migrate between the fragmented landscapes of rural and urban areas – a tale so common in our country – and the ways they are displaced, violated, and rendered invisible.

"My images move beyond the limited methods provided by traditional architectural knowledge to explore alternative spatial imaginaries of everyday issues of vulnerability and safety and to reveal some of the nuanced gendered dynamics black women experience in transit spaces. By drawing attention to how women linger and navigate through such spaces, my work seeks to provoke questions regarding the potential for more progressive and imaginative urban futures in the way urban transit and public space is designed," says Lekalakala.

Gugulethu Mthembu, The Tale of Aicha Qandisha

Gugulethu Mthembu looks at the legacies of female oppression and representation. Photo: Venice Architecture Biennale.

Born in Soweto, Gugulethu Mthembu is a practising architect, performer, and activist drawing on traditions of African oral storytelling. For her work at the Architecture Biennale, Mthembu draws on the mythological figure of Aicha Qandisha; a shapeshifting female spirit that appears most frequently in men's dreams, and is said to seduce men and render them impotent. Scholarly interest in Qandisha notes that her existence absolves men of their "ills", relegating blame to women – albeit in spirit form.

"Situated across different sites significant to the redressing of histories and legacies of female oppression and representation, this work takes the form of new story for Aicha Qandisha, one in which she is repatriated across the sites: a concubine slave ship, the court of law, the King’s palace, and now at the Biennale Architettura," explains the curatorial text.

Kate Otten, threads

Intricate weaving and beadwork hang in suspension in Kate Otten's curious map of the Vredefort Dome. Photo: RMB Latitudes.

Durban-born Kate Otten is known for being an architect of place. Her buildings are distinctly South African, weaving together materials, skills, politics, light, and landscape to create places that nurture the human spirit. According to Otten, "Fulfilling the emotional and spiritual needs of the users is as important as creating a functional space."

Now that her practice is rooted in Johannesburg, the city is central to her many musings. Created for the Architecture Biennale and later shown at this year's RMB Latitudes art fair, Otten's otherworldly sculptural installation, threads, is a visual exploration of Joburg's history that is most unusual, told through age-old traditions of craft and making.

Rendered in beads and mohair, the hanging disc is an impressionistic map of the Vredefort Dome – the earth's oldest known meteor crater (now a World Heritage site) dating back some two billion years. The impact of the crash sent debris and gold deposits flying, eventually leading to the discovery of gold in 1886 and the city's establishment in the gold rush that followed. This began what Otten terms a "dangerous liaison" between land and people, as well as great wealth and exploitation.

Gloria Pavita, na Bulongo [with soil]

Soil is central to Gloria Pavita's work, concerned with narratives of care, repair, reclamation, and repatriation. Photo: Venice Architecture Biennale.

Gloria Pavita is a reader, writer, storyteller, and spatial practitioner from Kinshasa, now based in Cape Town. Her project na Bulongo [with soil] is a film and experiential exploration of narratives that centre practices of care, repair, reclamation, and repatriation through soil.

As she notes, "Soil is a body that holds and hosts the extractive, exploitative, and violent practices of the colonial and apartheid regimes, from the context of Philippi in Cape Town to that of Camp Mutombo in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo." The installation's closing narrative takes place in Pavita's late-grandmother's garden; an enduring catalyst of her experience and practice of architecture.

Narratives of Migration and Reclamation runs at Gallery 1 at Keyes Art Mile in Rosebank from Sat, Jul 27 – Sat, Aug 24.