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Statements at Art Basel 2013 : Installation by Kemang Wa Lehulere. Photo courtesy MCH Messe Schweiz (Basel) AG. -
Sketch for a Future Song, 1, 2012 : Installation at Art Basel Miami Beach by Kemang Wa Lehulere. Photo courtesy Getty Images for Art Basel Miami 2012. -
Some Deleted Scenes, 2012 : Performance by Kemang Wa Lehulere. Photo courtesy Stevenson. -
A Geometric Drop, 2013 : Ink on paper by Kemang Wa Lehulere. Photo courtesy Stevenson.
While we were jubilating about Mzansi’s finest design exhibition being on show in Basel, one of Mzansi’s finest artists, Kemang Wa Lehulere was winning the 15th Baloise Art Prize. This makes Kemang one of the two hottest young artists on the show – ululations all round!
Along with his fellow award-winner, Jenni Tischer of Germany, Kemang has won a whopping 30 000 Swiss francs (approximately R325 000). His work has also been acquired by Baloise, a Swiss insurance holding company, and donated to two key European museums: the Hamburger Kunsthalle and the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (MUMOK) in Vienna.
Kemang and Jenni’s work is on show in the Statements sector of Art Basel, which comprises exciting new solo projects by young, emerging artists. Put forward by South Africa’s Stevenson gallery, Kemang also appears to be the only African participating.
Entailing a room-sized blackboard installation, his exhibition statement reads: “In his work Kemang explores questions of collective memory and seeks to uncover the traces of South African history. To this end, he not only uses the devices of revealing and writing down but also of wiping out text and pictures. His wall-sized drawings, installations, performances and photographs establish a link between the trauma and myths of South Africa’s past and contemporary social issues. Kemang‘s works may be read as an archive, which demonstrates the process of forgetting and, like a collage, simultaneously opens avenues to new narratives that encourage multiple interpretations.”
Born in Cape Town in 1984, this is not Kemang’s first foray into the global art world, having shown at Lombard-Freid Projects in New York earlier this year, the New Museum in New York in 2012, and the 11th Lyon Biennale in 2011. South Africans will recognize him as a co-founder of the Gugulective based in Cape Town, and a founding member of the Centre for Historical Reenactments in Johannesburg. He won the inaugural Spier Contemporary Award in 2007, and the MTN New Contemporaries Award in 2010.
Congratulations Kemang, you do us proud!
Read about the Southern Guild exhibition of South African design also showing in Basel.
