The exhibition How Dare You Make Me Feel This Way focuses on trans and queer joy. It is not an accusation, but a vote of gratitude. How dare you make me feel this way? So fine and full of wonder, but also so searching and confused? Photographs by Leo Xander Foo and Risk Hazekamp, videos by local and international artists like Yinzk and Samantha Nye and an installation by Dean Hutton are used to show perspectives and experiences that people from the trans and queer community find important and are eager to share. It is about saying ‘no’ to restrictive frameworks and ‘yes’ to freedom of movement.
How Dare You Make Me Feel This Way is curated, conceived and researched by Alara, Jip, Larisa, Sarjon, Storm, Zacquel and Dexter. From early 2022, they met at the invitation of Museum Arnhem and under the guidance of Julius Thissen to discuss life, art, trans and queerness. These encounters were about pleasure, pain, wonder about themselves and the world, their centuries-old history, threatened and rich future, and the difference between identity and political resistance. From December 2022 to May 2023
INHALEXHALE is a lightbox installation that calls us to both individual and communal acts of self-care in response to the crisis of breathlessness and social anxiety experienced by so many during this era of late capitalism, where ecological catastrophe, corruption and police brutality quite literally threatens to rob us of our breath.
The installation, made from reflective ‘gold’ materials, set to a radial rising from the ground like the rays of the sun, provides a point of focus and reflection for the viewer to remain present, and establish inner calm, acting as a visual representation of the process of mindful breathing, the rhythm and flow from inhale(to)exhale.
Production management by Shruthi Nair and fabrication by Ornate Concepts.
GOLDENDEAN presents the first of a new series of hard edge paintings of typographic or textual mantras experimenting with the architectural abstraction of a “soft brutalist” aesthetic. As part of the Soft Radical series of works in which Goldendean first presented an evolving collection of Typographic Medi(a)tations – original prints and posters reproducing text and typeface in repetition as “glitch mantras” and “minimalist mandalas” to provoke or inspire acts of care and resistance.
Brutalism is an architectural style characterised by simple, stark, geometric block-like design that often feature bare building materials. For Walter Benjamin, reflecting on the contexts of architectural production and function, Brutalist buildings define class struggle as : “a fight for crude and material things without which no refined and spiritual things could exist.”Theses on the Philosophy of History (1942). Brutalist spaces were designed with the experience of the visitor/user in mind, raw materials onto which we could project our imaginations as truth. __
Studio Nxumalo is proud to present: Footnotes. a group exhibition curated by Musa N. Nxumalo | Exhibition opening: 04.03.2023. Time: 10:00 – 15:00
A group exhibition that celebrates and honors the culture of independence as demonstrated by artists & painters that are featured in this group exhibition.
“Footnotes.” explores how these artists continuously unravel the complexities that form part of the wider artworld ecosystem; through innovative negotiations that propels their artistic practices forward, allowing them to reach both local as well as international audiences, including art buyers and collectors.
Nxumalo has carefully selected each artist based on their consistent contribution to the South African art market, despite the fact that these artists operate on the fringes of a larger art world ecosystem, such as art fairs, private/public museum exhibitions and art festivals.
This exhibition marks the last show at Keyes Art Mile for the year 2023. Whilst Nxumalo takes a year-long study sabbatical.
Our program will commence in the year 2024, with exhibitions that will be held in partnership with various art institutions, commercial galleries, auction houses and spaces that holds similar interests.
Featured artists: Lwando Dlamini, Thokozani Mthiyane, Kaelik Dullaart, Justice Mukheli, Frederick Clarke, Skubalisto & Lisolomzi Pikoli, Goldendean, Stephen Langa, Mthuthuzeli “Sthu” Manaka, Vukile Batyi, Layziehound Coka, Lebogang Mabusela, Fhatuwani Mukheli and MJ Turpin.
INHALEXHALE is a lightbox installation that calls us to both individual and communal acts of self-care in response to the crisis of breathlessness and social anxiety experienced by so many during this era of late capitalism, where ecological catastrophe, corruption and police brutality quite literally threatens to rob us of our breath.
The installation, made from reflective ‘gold’ materials, set to a radial rising from the ground like the rays of the sun, provides a point of focus and reflection for the viewer to remain present, and establish inner calm, acting as a visual representation of the process of mindful breathing, the rhythm and flow from inhale(to)exhale.
I want to thank all who work, and visited the Zeitz MOCAA, for their generosity and good will during the Soft Vxnxs exhibition this last half year. It has been a highlight of my career to share this work in particular with all of you, here in Cape Town. The city has never been a soft landing for me. Soft Vxnxs is not just a sculpture, it is an extension of my own body into a space of vulnerability. Thanks to you, I felt incredibly held during the whole process.
some favourite social media moments:
Can’t wait to see where Soft Vxnxs travels to from here but it will hopefully be somewhere in Johannesburg some time soon!
Curators are welcome to get in touch about display this work in new spaces.
As a “Fat Queer White Trans body” in the context of South Africa, artist Dean Hutton questions who or what is entitled to take up space. In doing so, they address the personal and political of hypervisibility: being visible (as a fat, queer, trans body) and invisible, unimportant at the same time (as a fat, queer, trans body). Their Tenderqueer sculptures “soft-radicals” – are round, soft, flexible and inviting. Our society expects fat and messy bodies to turn up traumatized and out of breath and never cheerful, horny, or beaming with a political speech. Soft Vxnxs creates comfort and space for vulnerability. Share your experience with this comfort object! #softvxnxs #goldendean #softradicals
Goldendean, BREATHE, 2020, 40 x 55.5 x 6 cm,Cast acrylic, LED 3000K warm light, Edition 10Goldendean, Vxnxs in Repose, 2020, Poly plastic, 300x132x155mm, edition of 30Goldendean, Birth of Vxnxs, Poly plastic, 155x102x129mm, edition of 30
Skirt Invaders by Dean Hutton, 2010. Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator Arcade machine with original hacked flash game, screensaver and 550 extra games. SABC Art Collection.
