(Kemang Wa Lehulere. Pic by Adam McConnachie)
Cape Town-based
visual artist Kemang Wa Lehulere has been named by the National Arts Festival
as the 2015 Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art.
Growing up in
Gugulethu, 30-year-old Wa Lehulere was surrounded by a very creative family as
a child. His mother was a singer and his cousins were script writers, directors
and actors in film and theatre.
Despite having won
five awards including the first International Tiberius Art Award Dresden,
launched in 2013 as a tribute to outstanding contemporary artists outside of
Europe; having had four solo exhibitions; 50 group exhibitions, and six
residencies, he remains humble in his achievements and emphasises the
importance of hard work, exposure to the arts and collaboration: “The most
important thing for me has been to read as much as possible, interacting with
other artists, going to see shows, going to the theatre and watching a lot if
independent films. It is also important to keep working and that doesn't mean producing
physical things but researching and writing as well.”
Performer,
photographer and filmmaker, initially a theatre aspirant working with the Cape
Town Theatre Laboratory, Wa Lehulere enrolled in a performing arts course at
CAP (Community Arts Project) and decided to change to a Visual Arts course
because he wanted a challenge. Here, he garnered experience in drawing,
painting and sculpture.
From there his
interest moved to new media and film and recalls: “Initially I became drawn to
works which dealt with identity politics, because I could relate. I looked a
lot at Berni Searle, Tracey Rose, and Thando Mama. That kind of work became my
interest, instead of painting. Even though I have continued painting and
drawing throughout, that was what drew me in, quite strongly.”
Co-founding the
arts collective the Gugulective, and collaborating with the Centre for
Historical Re-enactments and the NON-NON Collective, Wa Lehulere’s focuses on
initiating conversations in the arts, particularly bringing the arts into the
townships AND making it accessible to the masses.
Wa Lehulere’s
visual artworks range across media where he is particular about not conforming
to one medium and draws on a range of subjects by being open to the unknown.
His ethos The Foot Has No Nose - a Xhosa idiom, meaning one doesn’t know where
one’s journey is going, or where one is headed – is closely linked to this.
Theatre also influences his works by using props to change the traditional
meaning of spatial relations on stage or in a gallery. He explores themes of
boundaries: portals between the living and the dead, the past and the present;
segregation, discrimination and identity.
Wa Lehulere uses
iconic objects as reference points to represent these themes. The longevity of
his works is influenced by the medium in which he presents them: from using
charcoal and chalk to create works, playing on the idea of preservation.
His long-standing
exposure to theatre has crafted his most memorable moment at the National Arts
Festival in Grahamstown. “I first went to the festival with my cousin
Ithumeleng Wa Lehulere with a play he directed called Echoes of Our Footsteps, one in which Keith, my other cousin, was
acting in too. Travelling with a large cast, having spent a lot of time in
rehearsals and watching the play come to life at the Festival was very special
to me.”
Recently Wa
Lehulere was part of a group exhibition Do
it at the Michaelis Galleries in Cape Town.
“I am excited that
my work will be travelling to different venues and cities around the country.”
Says Wa Lehulere on receiving the award.
The other
recipients of the 2015 Standard Bank Young Artist Award are Christiaan Olwagen
(Theatre), Luyanda Sidiya (Dance), Musa Ngqungwana (Music), Athi-Patra Ruga
(Performance Art), and Nduduzo Makhathini (Jazz).
This year’s National Arts Festival will take place in
Grahamstown from July 2 to 12. For more information click on the banner advert
at the top of this page to link you to the website.
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