My Whole Body Changed into Something Else

Stevenson, Cape Town, South Africa
15 July 2021 – 3 September 2021
Group exhibition

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STEVENSON presented my whole body changed into something else, a group exhibition across its galleries in Cape Town and Johannesburg, curated by Sisipho Ngodwana and Sinazo Chiya.

The exhibition title was drawn from a quote by Sun Ra, in which the artist, thinker and composer described a moment of abduction and renewal. Ra stated that, in a pivotal journey between Earth and Saturn, his tangible form and personal history were metamorphosed, allowing him to continue existence in a truer mode: as an alien brought to preach peace.

In pursuing the questions raised by his assertion, the exhibition probed individual and collective ideas of bodily existence and processes of transformation through works from 1950 to the present day. The participating artists attended to the challenges presented by history, the dictates of commerce, the sensory borders between how matter is experienced, and the perceptions of binaries and opposition.

Natasja Kensmil contributed a new painting that directly addressed the Dutch East India Company’s exploits in the Cape of Good Hope.

Other participating artists included Aziz Hazara, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, Erkan Özgen, Ruth Ige, Frida Orupabo, Dada Khanyisa, Neo Matloga, Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi, Portia Zvavahera, Léonard Pongo, Pieter Hugo, Rahima Gambo, Belinda Blignaut, Precious Okoyomon, Thami Kiti, Penny Siopis, Moshekwa Langa, Serge Alain Nitegeka, Paulo Nazareth, Jane Alexander, Ajamu X, Simon Gush, Kaylin Moonsamy, Ernest Mancoba, Kamyar Bineshtarigh, Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Steven Cohen, Ben Enwonwu, Feelings Radio Project, Meleko Mokgosi, Thandiwe Msebenzi, Simphiwe Ndzube, Wura Natasha Ogunji, and Farah Al Qasimi.

On 23 and 24 July, experimental sound duo Feelings Radio Project presented a sonic intervention, broadcast live on Mixcloud from the Cape Town gallery, from 5-8pm.

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