Commune.1, Cape Town, South Africa
18 Aug 2015 - 03 Sep 2015
Wikus de Wet Dias Strand, Mosselbay (2014) Digital photographic print on hahnemuhle photo rag 40,5 x 51cm Edition of 5 , courtesy of Commune.1
Commune.1 presents the exhibition ‘Twenty Journey’ featuring the work of Sean Metelerkamp, Sipho Mpongo and Wikus de Wet and curated by Khanyisile Mbongwa.
In 2014, South Africa entered its twenty years of Democracy, this moment coincided with the recent death of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the birth of Economic Freedom Front and the National Elections. In the advent of The Rainbow Nation, three photographers travelled 24000 kilometers over seven months throughout South Africa in a motorhome to feel the pulse of the country. The exhibition Twenty Journey‘, conveys the photographic journey of the three South African photographers.
Sipho Mpongo, focused on the Born Frees, the first generation growing up out of apartheid rule. Asking: will they allow themselves to be defined by the scars of apartheid, or will they embrace freedom, choice and opportunity? Wikus de Wet, investigates the cultural, historical and commercial value of Land and the relationship it has to the people who inhabit the space. While Sean Metelerkamp, explores ‘Idiosyncrasies’ highlighting the absurdity of life in this magnificently puzzled country. He attempts to capture an unwilling moment, an unwarranted time and an unforgiving historical present.
This photographic exhibition is the result of the photographer’s search for the country’s pulse, the search for The New South Africa.
Sean Metelerkamp (b.1984) is perhaps best known for his video for Die Antwoord, ‘Zef Side’ was exhibited in the Guggenheim Museums in New York, Bilbao, Venice and Berlin where it won an award for Top 25 Videos of 2010. Zef Side also won the Yellow Pencil at the D&AD awards in London for Outstanding Achievement in 2011.
Sipho Mpongo was born in the Eastern Cape in a rural village called Nqamakwe in 1993 and was raised in Langa, Cape Town. In April 2015 The Magnum Foundation selected Mpongo as one their 2015 Human Rights Fellows.
Wikus de Wet (b.1990) is a Cape Town based freelance photographer that has been involved in numerous exhibitions and projects: ‘Bonani Africa Documentary Photography’ (2010), TheHIV/AIDS awareness campaign (Tanzania) in collaboration with Sony, World Photography Organization, AMREF, Global Fund, Large Blue and Stellenbosch Academy.
Cape Town based Khanyisile Mbongwa is an award winning performance and installation artist/curator. In 2006, she was amongst the founding members of the collective Gugulective. She exhibited and performed in and around Cape Town and Johannesburg, in Berlin, Spain, Pakistan, Scotland, Hamburg, New York, Switzerland and Sri Lanka. Engaged in various curatorial and artistic projects, in 2014 she won the Africa Centre – Artist In Residency Laureate and took up residency at JIWAR in Spain in 2015. Continuing to create and curate, Mbongwa was the Special Guest at Liste Art Fair Basel 2015.
