Arts writer
THREE photographers, Sipho Mpongo, Wikus de Wet and Sean Metelerkamp, spent seven months travelling 24 000km across South Africa in a motorhome. The result of their journey is an exhibition of 45 photographs, Twenty Journey – Born Frees/ Land/ Idiosyncracies, which will show at Commune.1 in Wale Street from today until September 3.
In 2014, South Africa entered its 20 years of democracy. This moment coincided with the recent death of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the birth of Economic Freedom Front and the national elections. With the rainbow nation in mind, the three photographers travelled across the country in an attempt to feel the pulse of the country.
Mpongo, focused on the “born frees”, the first generation growing up after apartheid’s rule. Asking: will they allow themselves to be defined by the scars of apartheid, or will they embrace freedom, choice and opportunity? De Wet, investigated the cultural, historical and commercial value of land and the relationship it has to the people who inhabit that space. While Metelerkamp explored idiosyncrasies highlighting the absurdity of life in this puzzling country. Metelerkamp attempted to capture “an unwilling moment, an unwarranted time and an unforgiving historical present”.
The exhibition is curated by Khanyisile Mbongwa, an award-winning performance and installation artist and curator, who uses movement, poetry and sculptural works in her practice.
Mpongo was raised in Langa. A local photographic mentorship programme, Illiso Labantu, provided him with a platform to launch his photographic career. Mpongo also recently completed a course at the Cape Town School of Photography, whilst simultaneously contributing to various photographic group shows and projects in Cape Town and internationally. In April 2015 The Magnum Foundation selected Mpongo as one of their 2015 Human Rights Fellows.
De Wet is a Cape Town-based freelance photographer. In 2011 he was chosen to work on a HIV/Aids awareness campaign in Tanzania, where we used photography and high definition video. His project Remaking Afrikaner Identity in a democratic South Africa was exhibited along with other photographers in the Good Hope Gallery as part of the Cape Town Month of Photography.
Metelerkamp is from Knysna. His video for Die Antwoord’s Zef Side has been exhibited in the Guggenheim Museums of New York, Bilbao, Venice and Berlin, where it won an award for Top 25 Videos of 2010. Zef Side also won the Yellow Pencil at the D&AD awards in London for Outstanding Achievement in 2011.
l 021 423 5600.