Who We Should Not Be by Navel Seakamela

Who We Should Not Be by Navel Seakamela

WORDS Cheri Morris PHOTOS Hayden Phipps/Southern Guild


Southern Guild presents Who We Should Not Be, a solo exhibition of mixed-media portraits by
Navel Seakamela – a contemplation of the duality of light and dark that characterises reality; a convergence of the intimate and political.

This body of work is Navel’s first solo with the gallery, completed during his GUILD Residency. Through large-scale works depicting people in moments of stolen leisure, quietude, repose and vulnerability, it explores the ebb and flow of existence in a world where bodies are vessels of meaning, read and misread. It is a reckoning with the weight of navigating expectations of how one should be in the world and the relieving detachment that comes from relinquishing control thereover.

navel seakamela
In Who We Should Not Be, exaggerated portraits become a way for him to reflect on a sense of self through tender representations of love and courage in relation to others.

His visual language is distinct; storytelling that is intuitive and compresses various sensibilities and feelings into a single unhindered frame – uncluttered, measured, almost bare. The central chorus of Who We Should Not Be is harmonised around a series of works donning in golden yellow – a colour that eludes to the many possibilities of being. Here, yellow is a reflection of light and a reflection on the lightness of being. It is an exploration of leisure, of Black bodies at rest – a pertinent challenge to racist traditions that continue to render Black bodies invisible.

READ MORE: Southern Guild at Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2022
navel seakamela
Beneath the Tree I’, 2022
Acrylic, charcoal on canvas
143 x 140 cm

Through portraiture, Navel draws the essence of human emotion while venturing deep into the confines of one’s own subconscious. In Who We Should Not Be, exaggerated portraits are a means of
self-reflection through tender representations of shared love and courage.


Who We Should Not Be runs at Southern Guild in Cape Town from 22 June to 28 July 2022. For more information, visit southernguild.co.za.

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