‘A Sense of Perpetual Becoming’

Creative Time’s Elvira Dyangani Ose looks forward to the work of Kemang Wa Lehulere at Frieze New York

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BY Elvira Dyangani Ose in Frieze New York | 19 APR 18

A sense of perpetual becoming has always struck me in the work of Kemang Wa Lehulere, who has a solo presentation at Stevenson (D23). 

 

Kemang Wa Lehulere, Matric 2015, 2018. Salvaged school desks (wood), piano hammers, shoelaces, glass bottles, sand, paper, ribbon. Dimensions variable. Courtesy: the artist and Stevenson, Cape Town 
 Whether scrutinizing episodes in the history of South Africa, or his own past as an artist, memory always takes sudden twists in his hands. By drawing on stories unseen, unwritten, and untold, he produces observations of a static present which resists transformation, pretending to be unaltered by past events. In riposte, his works gesture toward steps into the future. Choosing to engage with a myriad of media for realization, his practice surprises me, exhibition after exhibition.
I cannot wait to see what stories and histories he will channel on this occasion. 

Tickets for Frieze New York 2018 are available here.

Elvira Dyangani Ose is Senior Curator, Creative Time, Lecturer in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, London and member of the Thought Council, Fondazione Prada, Milan

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