SMAC Gallery present Abalozi Bayeza / Os Deuses Estão Chegando, a new ‘constellation’ of works by Lhola Amira.

This body of work is born from a series of Appearances by Lhola Amira in Bahia and surrounding Brazil, over a period of weeks in late 2018. Translating from Zulu and Portuguese as “The Gods Are Coming”and comprising of new installations and photographic narratives, Abalozi Bayeza / Os Deuses Estão Chegando presents an introduction to Amira’s ongoing engagement with Brazil.

“In Abalozi Bayeza by Lhola Amira we are taken on a journey defined as umzila1 wamakhosi2, where we become witnesses to the loss of land and our collective identities in the diaspora of Bahia. The seashore becomes the vista where many who left the African lands were traded as slaves to become meagre labour in the Caribbean and the Americas. Amira traces the tracks of those who were forcibly displaced and forced into permanent exile through the gift of imilozi (whistles),” writes Sikhumbuzo Makandula.

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1 Umzila: a mark or track made by dragging any heavy body along the ground
2 The term makhosi or amakhosi in direct translation means king or a person of royalty. This term is used mostly by traditional healers when talking to each other.