South African visual artist (born 1977)
Senzeni Marasela |
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| Born | (1977-02-11)11 February 1977
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| Occupation(s) | Artist, Author |
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| Years active | 1997–present |
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| Notable work | Ijermani Lam (2013-2019) |
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Senzeni Marasela (born 11 February 1977) is a South African visual artist born in Thokoza who works across different media, combining performance, photography, video, prints, textiles, and embroidery in mixed-medium installations. She obtained a BA in Fine Arts at the Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in 1998. Her work is exhibited in South Africa, Europe, and the United States. It is part of local and international collections, including Museum of Modern Art or the Newark Museum, and is referenced in numerous academic papers, theses journals, and book publications.[1][2][3][4][5]
Education
Senzeni Marasela went to Jonimfundo in Vosloorus, where she matriculated in 1994. During a one-day trip in 1992 to the University of the Witwatersrand,[6] she decided to enroll there. She developed her multimedia and performative practice at the Wits School of Arts, where she graduated in 1998.
Career
Marasela's work has been regularly shown since the Martienssen Prize Exhibition in 1997. She was taken on by the Goodman Gallery after being part of the group exhibition Not Quite a Christmas. Her first solo exhibition was at the Iziko South African National Gallery's Fresh exhibition series in 2000, which was part of a residency programme. In 2003, she started a long-term performance entitled Theodorah comes to Johannesburg, which is based on stories her mother told about her 11-hour travel from Mvenyane to Johannesburg.[citation needed]
In 2011 Marasela decided to work as a full-time artist and was part of the Johannesburg Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015.
Work
Marasela's mother's collection of doilies and Victorian lace works handed down in her family, influenced her artistic practice. Marasela's work explores the experiences of black, South African women across a range of media. This includes photography, video, prints, and mixed-medium installations that involve textiles and embroidery. In her work, she translates memories of struggle and urbanization through the use of material culture and narratives, such as the use of the color red, which refers to cultural memories around the time of the "Red Dust". She refers to a period of drought in the early 1930s in South Africa. Her performances interweave these elements and multi-media works, making visible the dimension of the everyday [7] through objects and clothes.[8]
She is known for her six-year performance work Ijermani Lam which "materializes the condition of waiting"[9] by wearing the same red dress every day from the 1st of October 2013 to the 1st of October 2019. The original dresses were part of the group the exhibition, "Made Visible. Contemporary South African Fashion and Identity" at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (February–May 2019).[10] Her work taps into cultural memories using, printing archival materials such as newspapers and photographs on colonial textiles. It tells stories of black women in South Africa, such as Sarah Baartman or her mother, Theodora Mpofukazi Marasela, through series such as Covering Sarah Baartman (2011), Sarah, Senzeni and Theodorah Come to Joburg (2011), Theodorah, (2005),[11] Waiting for Gebane (2017), Izithombe Zendawo Esizithandayo (2017) and builds an "intimate archive",[12] giving voice to experiences of Black women.
Exhibitions
Solo
- 2018: Waiting for Gebane, Dolly Parton. Toffee Gallery, Darling, South Africa[13]
- 2011: Sarah, Theodora and Senzeni in Johannesburg. Art On Paper, Johannesburg, South Africa[13]
- 2010: Beyond Booty: Covering Sarah Baartman and Other Tales. Axis Gallery, New York and New Jersey in association with submerged art, USA[13][14]
- 2009: Witness. Art on Paper, Johannesburg, South Africa[15]
- 2009: "Oh my God you look like shit. Who let you out of the house looking like that?", solo performance, Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway[13]
- 2009: JONGA – Look at Me! A Museum of Women, Dolls and Memories. Devon Arts residency, Devon, Scotland[15]
- 2005: Theodorah I-III. Art on Paper, Johannesburg, South Africa[16]
- 2004: Three Women, Three Voices. Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa[13]
- 2002: Upstream Public Art Project. Amsterdam, Netherlands[15]
- 2000: Fresh. Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa[13]
Group exhibitions
- 2019: I am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa. National Museum of African Art, Washington, USA[13]
- 2018 – 2019: Soft Power. Transpalette, Bourges, France[17]
- 2018: Ravelled Threads. Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, USA[18]
- 2017: Africa. Raccontare un mondo. Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy[19]
- 2016: KIN. HANGAR Centro de Investigação Artística, Lisbon, Portugal[20]
- 2014: Nomad Bodies. Royal Academy of Fine Art, Antwerp, Belgium – Fried Contemporary, Pretoria, South Africa[21]
- 2013: Trans-Africa: Africa curating Africa. Absa Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa[22]
- 2012: Present Tense: Arts of Contemporary Africa. The Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey, USA[15]
- 2012: Me 1. Fried Contemporary, Pretoria, South Africa[23]
- 2011: New traditions: Louise McCagg & Senzeni Marasela. Collaboration at A.I.R. Gallery, in association with Axis Gallery and Alma-on-Dobbin, New York, USA[15]
- 2011: Impressions from South Africa: Printed Art/1960 to Now. The Paul J. Sachs Prints and Illustrated Books Galleries, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA[15]
- 2011: DARKROOM: South African Photography and New Media 1950-Present. Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, USA[15]
- 2010: Translations: art into jewellery. Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa[15]
- 2009 – 2010: Dystopia. Unisa Art Gallery, Pretoria, South Africa – MuseuMAfricA, Johannesburg, South Africa – Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa – Jan Colle Galerij, Ghent, Belgium[15]
- 2009: Beauty and Pleasure. Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway[15]
- 2009: Unbounded: New Art for a New Century. The Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey, USA[15]
- 2009: Developing Democracy: A New Focus on South African Photography. Kyle Kauffman Gallery, New York, USA[15]
- 2008: Thami Mnyele and Medu Art Ensemble Retrospective Exhibition. Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa[15]
- 2008: Black Womanwood: Icons, Images, and Ideologies of the African Body. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA – Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, USA – San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, USA[15]
- 2007: Jive Soweto. Hector Pieterson Museum, Soweto, South Africa[15]
- 2006: Ranjith Kally, Senzeni Marasela and Ruth Seopedi Motau at Goodman Gallery[24]
- 2006: Erase Me from Who I Am. Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain[15]
- 2005: Click. Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa[15]
- 2004: Ten Voices, Ten Years of Democracy. Public art project of the city of Rome, Italy[15]
- 2004: Public Private. Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand[15]
- 2003: The Body and the Archive. Artists Space, New York, USA[15]
- 2002: Aids in Africa. Wellesley College, Wellesley, USA[15]
- 2001: Sample E.C. Gertrude Posel Gallery, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa[15]
- 2001: Open House Exhibition. Umeå Arts Campus, Umea, Sweden[15]
- 2000: Margins in the Mainstream. Namibian National Gallery, Windhoek, Namibia[15]
- 2000: Translation/Seduction/Displacement: Post-Conceptual and Photographic Work. South African Artists, WhiteBox, New York, USA[15]
- 2000: Potrat Afrika. Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany[15]
- 2000: Art Region End of Africa. Listafen Reykjavikur Kjarvalsstadir, Reykjavík, Iceland[15]
- 1999: Market Photo Workshop Exhibition. Rembrandt van Rijn Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa[15]
- 1999: Postcards From South Africa. Axis Gallery, New York, USA[15]
- 1999: Truth Veils. Getrude Posel Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa[15]
- 1998: Family Ties. Sandton Civic Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa[15]
- 1998: Democracy's Images. Bildmuseet, Umea, Sweden[15]
- 1998: Women's Voices. Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart, Germany[15]
- 1997: Not Quite a Christmas Exhibition. Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa[15]
- 1997: Martienseen Prize Exhibition. Gertrude Posel Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa[15]
Biennales
