IN A BIND AT KZNSA

 

Currently running in the KZNSA Park Gallery is an exhibition titled In A Bind: by Rohini Amratlal and Mfezeko Gumada.

South Africa’s uncertain progress towards democracy is founded upon collaboration, a word tainted by associations with treachery, and unwholesome dealings with an enemy. But is it not, paradoxically, the path to real freedom? In this exhibition, the strength and beauty of ‘the other’ is evinced as threads crossing in woven artworks.

Rohini Amratlal’s work uses contradictory materials such as incema grass and white cotton as the respective warp and weft of her woven compositions, creating shimmering hybridized cloth that reflects our national conflicts, reconciliations, and occasional mutual comfort.

Mfezeko Gumada, on the other hand, revels in complex puzzle-like repeats that suggest electronic circuits, on pleather; satellite images; massed armoured columns; computer code embroidered on cardboard – in all, a pixelated reality meticulously sewn together with the metaphorically potent cross-stitching. Here, Amratlal and Gumada explore how the fabric of South Africa is made, torn, and sometimes mended.

 

Rohini Amratlal and Mfezeko Gumada

(Left: Rohini Amratlal. Pic supplied)

Rohini Amratlal was born in 1998 in Durban, South Africa. She is a South African contemporary artist and emerging curator working with a range of materials to make drawings, prints, sculptures, and installations. Her work focuses on her personal experiences and connections she develops with various people, touching on matters of race, love and loss and identity in post- apartheid South Africa

 

(Right: Mfezeko Gumada. Pic supplied)

Multidisciplinary artist Mfezeko Gumada was born in Flagstaff, Eastern Cape, in 1993. Gumada, who is currently based in Durban, makes drawings, prints, and installations out of a variety of materials. 

His work covers and mostly focuses on personal experiences that serve as a remembrance of the uncharted territory in post-apartheid South Africa. He won first place at the KZNSA Gallery's Annual Members competition and was chosen as one of the top 100 artists for the Sasol New Signatures competition in 2021.

 

The KZNSA Gallery is situated at 166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood, in Durban. More information on 031 277 1705 or cell 082 220 0368 or visit www.kznsagallery.co.za