Art in Mangaung - July 2024

// 2 Exhibitions & info about the Free State Young Artist Award //

Wassup fam. Here's an update for Art lovers in the City of Roses. At the Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Kutlwano Monyai's debut solo exhibition, "LEFELOBOIKETLO (A Place of Rest)," showcases intricate tapestries and sculptural installations inspired by her maternal lineage and cultural heritage. Meanwhile, the Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery presents "approximations to a voice: ellipsis," curated by Jean Dreyer, featuring evocative works that explore themes of presence, absence, and feminine symbolism. Lastly, the National Museum in Bloemfontein invites young artists aged 5 to 19years old to enter the 2024 Free State Young Artist Awards, encouraging creative expressions around the theme "Fight Drought – Exploring Resilience and Innovation."

Oliewenhuis Art Museum (Annex Gallery)

LEFELOBOIKETLO (A place of rest) - solo exhibition, Kutlwano Monyai

In her debut solo exhibition, Kutlwano Monyai draws inspiration from her upbringing, and domestic, cultural, economic and spiritual environment to narrate stories from her maternal lineage. She re-imagines and re-creates functional items by crocheting, weaving and braiding plastics, creating tapestries and soft sculptural installations. These functional items that she references, act as gestures of care, mindfulness, existence, and as archives that hold memories, stories and experiences related to acts of service from her maternal lineage, aesthetic influences and generational knowledge.