"Next Movement: Installations by Thando Mama"
2005-03-30 until 2005-04-17
NSA Gallery
Durban, , ZA South Africa

The NSA Gallery proudly presents the second solo exhibition by renowned Durban video artist, Thando Mama, with an overview of recent work and a new series of digital prints. Mama has gained stature as an important young South African artist and has been traveling and showing in numerous international exhibitions in the past two years, being included in group exhibitions in Belgium, the USA, New Zealand, Switzerland and France. He was the recipient of the MTN New Contemporaries Award in 2003 and the Prix de la Communaute de Belgique at the Dakar Biennale in 2004.

Mama's practice as a video artist is framed by his awareness that his chosen medium is largely marginalized within the South African art market and gallery system. He champions the use of video as legitimate and important aspect of contemporary South African art, and opening avenues for its distribution locally is a concern for the artist.

Mama's work grapples with the uneasy representation of the African male, and how its depiction is often fraught with ideological ambiguity. He draws from pan African writings, popular print and television media, digital developments and his own experience as influences. Often his own body is used as a starting point and reference in his work, and he shares an interest with artists whom use their own experience and bodies as a canvas on which larger social political issues plays itself out.

Mama states: "My body forms part of or is a reference to issues arising from socio-political discourses in the contemporary African society and its Diaspora. Thus my face, my voice, my skin texture, the audio levels of the video, the installations become a tool and space for the audience to engage in, to identify with and hopefully give and take meaning to my work."

The exhibition is funded through a grant from the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) and the National Arts Council (NAC)

IMAGE
Thando Mama
We are afraid
2003
Video, Installation
2’39’’

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for South Africa

Other Important Exhibitions in South Africa