Mohau Modisakeng

Catalog of an exhibition entitled Lefa La Ntate, held in conjunction with the Standard Bank Young Artist Award 2016, at National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, June 30, 2016; Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth, July 27-September 2, 2016; IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town, October 20, 2016-January 29, 2017; Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery, Bloemfontein, February 22-March 31, 2017; Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg, April-May 2017; and Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, May 26-July 8, 2017. In Modisakeng's work the personal is political. Informed by his experience as a young boy in Soweto at the cross roads of a violent political transition, Modisakeng uses memory as a portal between past and present to explore themes of history, body and place within the post-apartheid context. His photography, films, performance and installation grapple with the conflicting politics of leadership and nationhood, whilst also attempting to unpack the legacy of inequality, capital, labour and extraction of mineral wealth in contemporary South Africa.