Co-Existence. Jan Smith (Mexico/Photography) Bronwen Vaughan-Evans (Australia/Painting) & Nomusa Makhubu (South Africa/Photography)

Transcription

1 Co-Existence Jan Smith (Mexico/Photography) Bronwen Vaughan-Evans (Australia/Painting) & Nomusa Makhubu (South Africa/Photography) 30 September 31 October 2014 This exhibition includes three series of work by artist and art historian, Nomusa Makhubu, including the acclaimed, and now expanded series, Self-Portrait Project, Inquietude and her latest series, photographed in Lagos, Nigeria, The Flood. Makhubu is a recent PhD graduate and full-time lecturer at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town. Her mode of address in Self-Portrait Project (2007/2013) involves projecting images of the self onto found colonial photographs. In her 2009 series, Inquietude, Makhubu continued her focus on identity and self-representation within the broader context of migration.

2 In her latest series, The Flood (2013) Makhubu opted for a departure; from the private to the public sphere. Trapped in a taxi during a flash flood in Lagos, Makhubu documented those around her. This exhibition includes Smith s full series entitled Nouadhibou Where ships go to Die (). Place of the Jackal - This is the translation of the name of the town of Nouadhibou, Mauritania. Once a fishing village, Nouadhibou is now a large industrial port and the world s largest ship cemetery, with more than 500 abandoned wrecks floating in its waters. The irony of the name, and the image of scavenging predators that it invokes, is not lost on Smith, who had to endure many adventures to eventually capture these images of destruction. Smith focuses his lens on a variety of floating vessels, rusted and covered in barnacle. Abandoned, floating with no purpose other than to finally sink, these vessels have outlived their usefulness. Like lovers, these wrecks cling to each another in a hope of staying afloat. Smith uses the dichotomy of hope in the face of despair as the basis for his compositions. Whilst his photographs portray these vessels as still majestic and powerful, heroically denying their fate, there is no doubt in the viewers mind that the ominous rising swell of the black sea will be the final victor. Vaughan-Evans references her own photography in her uniquely constructed and layered gesso on board paintings. Her monochromatic palette alludes to a metaphorical weight beneath the surface of things. Vaughan-Evans is South African born; now living and working in Melbourne, Australia. Her minimalist paintings poignantly comments on issues of alienation and migration.

3 Bronwen Vaughan-Evans We Are All Connected Anticipation Gesso and oil on board 60 x 90 cm 2013 First Sighting of Spring Gesso and oil on board 60 x 90 cm 2013

4 Migration Stories Gesso and oil on board 60 x 90 cm 2013 Pause Gesso and oil on board 90 x 150 cm 2013

5 Lift Gesso and oil on board 60 x 90 cm 2013 Shadow Swinging Gesso and oil on board 60 x 90 cm 2013

6 Nomusa Makhubu Inquietude Inquietude I Digital print on archival paper 60 x 100 cm Edition of Inquietude II Digital print on archival paper 100 x 60 cm Edition of Inquietude III Digital print on archival paper 60 x 100 cm Edition of

7 The Flood Nyembezi IV Colour photograph on Hahnemühle paper 60 x 79cm Edition of Nyembezi Colour photograph on Hahnemühle paper 60 x 79cm Edition of

8 Self-Portrait Project Asasibambe Ngani? (Still Binding?) Digital print on archival Litho paper 60 x 80 cm Edition /7 + 2 A/P's 2007/2013 Imvunulo (Traditional Dress) Digital print on archival Litho paper 55 x 80 cm Edition /7 + 2 A/P's 2007/2013 Imfundo, Impahla nebhayibheli (Education, Apparel, and the Bible) Digital print on archival Litho paper 60 x 80 cm Edition /7 + 2 A/P s 2007/2013

9 Jan Smith Nouadhibou Where Ships go to Die Vessel 1 - Nouadhibou Vessel 2 - Nouadhibou

10 Vessel 3 - Nouadhibou Vessel 4- Nouadhibou

11 Vessel 5 - Nouadhibou - available print 5/5 Vessel 6 - Nouadhibou

12 Vessel 7 - Nouadhibou Vessel 8 - Nouadhibou

13 Vessel 9 - Nouadhibou 36 x 53cm Vessel 10 - Nouadhibou

14 Vessel 11 - Nouadhibou Vessel 12 - Nouadhibou

15 Vessel 14 - Nouadhibou - available print 5/5 Vessel 15 - Nouadhibou - available print 5/5

16 Vessel 16 - Nouadhibou Vessel 17 - Nouadhibou

17 Vessel 18 - Nouadhibou Vessel 19 - Nouadhibou

18 Vessel 20 - Nouadhibou Vessel 21 - Nouadhibou ERDMANNCONTEMPORARY & thephotographersgalleryza 84 Kloof Street l Cape Town, 8001 T l E. galleryinfo@mweb.co.za