Latitudes Online and Anna Pure Organic present Reshape 22, a group show featuring 60 female artists.
Reshape 22 is an annual online survey exhibition that seeks to increase the visibility of contemporary, women-identifying artists in Africa.
The group show aims to highlight strong female-identifying voices on the continent and empower a collective whose narrative has been undervalued and neglected throughout history, while also embracing intersectionality theory.
“Reshape envisions a broader and more inclusive art canon for future generations,” said Lucy MacGarry, director at Latitudes Online. “The exhibition aims to highlight a contemporary view of women’s identification practices that is not based on a single narrative of womanhood, but rather examines the essential contributions of women making art in relation to the compelling issues that define our time ‘ says the exhibition’s co-curator Nina Carew.
Reshape examines what unites the artists by assessing similarities in their practices and identifying five themes that are prevalent in their work in the present moment.
The topics for 2022 are:
materiality
Materiality covers a wide range of artists, where the materials of their artworks greatly influence and inform their meaning. This theme also approaches the process by which the works are made, focusing on how the softness of materials, processes and creative expression feeds into the emotional response we feel as viewers.
Artists featured: Amy Rusch, Diane Webb, Sophia van Wyk, Sanell Aggenbach, Sepideh Mehraban, Tzung-Hui Lauren Lee, Motlhoki Nono, Balekane Legoabe, Hemali Khoosal, Anushka Kempken, Elize Vossgatter, Liza Grobler, Gabrielle Guy, Nadia Raaths, Anna Sango, Charlae Baragwanath-Barter, Chelsea Selvan, Ana Pather, Hedwig Barry, Io Makandal
portrait painting
Portraiture offers a space of self-defined identity and representation, be it a self-portrait or a narrated story of femininity through Women.
Artists featured: Olivie Keck, Zama Mhlanga Spellman, Nadine Mathenjwa, Lea Colombo, Bria Fernandes, Sinalo Ngcaba, Lerato Khumalo, Cinthia Sifa Mulanga, Nomande Canada, Zana Masombuka, Tshepiso Moropa
The female gaze
The Female Gaze offers a reclaiming of power (seen through composition, subject matter and direct eye contact) by women. This topic also affects spaces in which women are still at the mercy of traditional power structures and physical violence.
Artists featured: Awanle Ayiboro Hawa Ali, Lungile Ngcobo, Martha Kubele, Boitumelo Lamola, Jody Brand, Kay-Leigh Fisher, Sharlene Kahn, Malebona Maphutse, Thembi Mthembu, Lebo Thoka
nature and sustainability
Nature and Sustainability focuses on works that relate to the environment, environmental change, the cyclical nature of birth and decay, and works that are organic in subject matter or materiality.
Artists featured: Ronel de Jager, Soliana Tewolde, Jo Roets, Anna van der Ploeg, Adele van Heerden, Tamara Osso
The body as a vessel
Referring to works associated with the female form, The Body as a Vessel is a gentle play on the relationship between nature and the body. The body as a vessel also relates strongly to femininity as sexuality, from the procreation and birth of children and the strong intergenerational connection between mother and daughter.
Artists featured: Lerato Nkosi, Farhana Jacobs, Mellaney Roberts, Maroula Lambis, Ellena Lourens, Olwethu de Vos, Fiona Davhana, Mariette Momberg, Gugulethu Nguni
Reshape 22 runs from September 14th to October 14th on Latitudes Online.
