In an interesting collaboration between Everard Read's Circa Gallery and the nearby Stevenson Gallery, Robin Rhode presents a solo exhibition, Joburg Hymn, across two venues.

An exhibition in two parts, South African artist Robin Rhode's Joburg Hymn positions the city in which he grew up as both the seat of reference and the place of execution. "Instead of the art-historical concepts and colour theories that have informed recent series, his new photographs, paintings, and videos reflect personal experiences of Joburg’s complex socio-economic milieu," reads the exhibition statement.

With works created over the last year, Rhode takes performative and even absurdist action to pay homage to a city in constant renegotiation and renewal. He says, "The show is a celebration, but at the same time I am occupying spaces in Jozi that are in decay. The context that I’m operating in reflects a larger discourse on the decay and collapse of structures and systems within South Africa. The question I’m asking is, how do we confront these crumbling structures and at the same time inject a life into them? How do we create new meanings for structures that are collapsing?"

Joburg Hymn marks the fourth time these two galleries have collaborated in this way, following projects in Cape Town and New York between 2016 and 2021. At Circa, Rhode presents video works and animations, while at Stevenson he exhibits drawings and photography.

Animations such as Garden Service, Padel, and Day Zero were created in disused sports grounds in the West Rand. Beyond their appearance as found abstract compositions, Rhode uses these dilapidated leisure facilities to highlight the vagaries of time's passage through place, using chalk instead of paint to speak to call the possibilities of erasure to mind.

In June's Window, a work central to this exhibition, we encounter a slide projection in which the artist and an armed collaborator are seen burying drawings at a mine dump. This ritual, using sketches of domestic implements belonging to Rhode's mother, June, at the man-made hill visible from her kitchen window acts as a historical counterpoint to the artist's new work and combines drawing, performance, and photography.

Across Joburg Hymn, an improvisational and imaginative approach characterises Rhode's grapplings with the reality of struggle. "I see my job, my duty, as an artist as to revitalise these spaces," he says. 

Robin Rhode's Joburg Hymn opens at Circa Gallery on Thu, Aug 15 from 17:30 – 20:00 and runs until Sat, Sep 28. The Stevenson Gallery iteration of the show opens on Fri, Aug 17 from 10:00 – 13:00, with an artist walkabout at 11:00, and runs until Fri, Oct 18.