Boundless: A group exhibition at Kalashnikovv Gallery
Boundless marks the first local show of the New Year for Kalashnikovv Gallery, featuring a selection of the next generation of young, Black, female artists. The exhibition aims to give a place to emerging artists who have not yet been able to showcase their work extensively in a gallery space. The show sheds light on the new language and perspective offered to the art stratosphere through the lens of Black womanhood. It is indeed ‘unbound’ as the offerings showcase the unrestrained expression in the young working artists at the start of their careers in South Africa.
The group of participating artists work with a variety of different media and materials, either self-taught, plucked straight out of lecture halls or attempting to launch careers from the studios of artists — it is clear they have a new and refreshing sense of appreciation and innovation when it comes to painting, sculpture and textile art.
Rirhandzu Vermeulen greets you at the entrance of the exhibition, with work featuring colour oil paintings that are playful in navigating her personal femininity in Johannesburg. The work is a self-exploration of the battle as a woman with assimilation when it comes to traditional values and ideologies. Provocative and distorted in a hyper-feminine way, it speaks to the struggle that comes with female autonomy and gender expression when socially navigating the complicated dynamics of womanhood. Vermeulen explains, “I have never noticed my ‘femaleness’ more than when I moved to Johannesburg, this place really unsolicitedly makes me aware that socially; I am a woman.”
Naledi Modupi’s bold and contrasting portraits capture the intersection between traditional and digital art forms inspired by South African culture and the women who played such critical roles in her story. The use of bright yellow thread adorning traditional canvas speaks to the power of vivacious femininity to ensure that future generations understand the resilience, wisdom and grace of South African women in a community.
Other forms of portraiture are explored by Zanele Montle who uses strong design elements and vivid colours to reveal her deep-rooted heritage and narrative when it comes to the convergence of race, gender and identity. Storytelling is further demonstrated by Buqaqawuli Thamani Nobakada, who uses her background in architecture to play on the themes of black opulence and luxury by creating an environment that delicately references this. Her work on display balances intimacy with performative regality as high heels are captured up close, to the point you can almost hear the laughter that comes with modern women’s lives.
Boundless is a group exhibition that showcases the dialogues of young female artists navigating the discourse that comes with the power of the feminine. Through bold portraiture, these artists are reimagining the power of documenting and preserving the vibrancy of women in South Africa.