City Hosts Inhlambululo
The Springs Art Gallery (SAG) is pleased to present Simphiwe Majozi’s debut solo exhibition Inhlambululo -exhibit new body of work and expresses his ongoing cultural beliefs and practices subjects through photography.
Simphiwe Majozi from Daveyton was born in 1993. In 2016/ 2017 he participated in the Ekurhuleni Art Development Programme, and in 2018 was part of the student exhibition ‘Beyond Teaching II’ at the Springs Art Gallery and ‘Art Goes Beyond Teaching II’ at Bodutu Art Gallery in Vaal University of Technology.
He completed a Foundation Course at the Market Photo Workshop in 2018, and in 2019 he joined the 6-month Narrative Course at Through The Lens Collective, where he developed the body of work Inhlambululo. A selection of the work has been shown at Berman Contemporary as part of ‘The Image Is Our Voice’ group exhibition in 2021.
“My images operate in this world, and in the place where our ancestors are watching over us. My work explores the IsiZulu tradition of Inhlambululo, whereby clothing and other items of significance are passed down to specific members of the family after the death of a relative. These inherited belongings act as channels for communication between the living and the deceased. My work reflects the continuous growth of the community and the strength of connections between past and present.”
Simphiwe Majozi
“Simphiwe Majozi uses the photographic medium to bring vision to his unseen experience of home. His work considers the immense spiritual value of those precious items left behind by those who have passed on, while acknowledging the significance of those who remain and become both remnants of and successors to; the lives and dreams of their ancestors.”
“Many photographers, past and present, have documented South African cultural and spiritual traditions and practices, in attempt to evoke the spirited connection between earthly and metaphysical bodies. Majozi’ s work brings a personal and contemporary vision to cultural tradition, reflecting on the experiences of those who are left behind – as inheritors of familial bonds and ancestral legacies. His body of work explores the role that both photography, and these inherited belongings play in our attempts to cherish and hold on to memory.“&
Michelle Harris, Through The Lens Collective
The Inhlambululo exhibition invites us to consider:
How can we represent ourselves and our experiences in ways that bypass embody the deep significance and sacredness of the people and practices of which it speaks?
How can photography be used to communicate the diversity of individualised approaches to a shifting and nuanced cultural heritage, which continues to exist as a significant part of our everyday lives in a contemporary South Africa.
Those who have gone before often leave with us both the absence and presence of those things which have defined their role and value within a family and community – the accumulation of ‘wealth’ as concerned with the preservation of cultural values; through careful attention to the making of home and family, and the provision of shelter, spiritual guidance, and physical sustenance.
Photography has long been used to, focusing on the materials, objects, people, and spaces of importance, and more commonly the coming together of these significant beings, spaces, materials/objects in the act of spiritual communion, facilitated through ritualistic practice or ceremony. and visualise the sense of transcendence experienced in that liminal space between here and the beyond.
The exhibition opens on Saturday, 12 June 2021, at the Springs Art Gallery in Springs at 12 noon.
This exhibition runs until 30 July 2021 and the art gallery is open Monday through Friday, 9am – 4pm for public viewing (closed on Sundays and public holidays).
This project forms part of post support intervention offered to beneficiaries of SRAC programmes created through a collaboration between the SRAC Department of the City of Ekurhuleni’s Visual Arts and Galleries Section and Through the Lens Collective (TTLC).
