Exhibition Review

Guernicas – A Commentary on the South African Condition Review of Post-apartheid Guernica (10 October 2021 – 30 January 2022)

Abstract

Late last year, I went to the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) – a space that I had never visited prior to going to see Sharlene Khan and Mokgabudi Amos Letsoalo’s Post-apartheid Guernica (10 October 2021 – 30 January 2022). Getting into the space was both interesting and overwhelming, as the JAG is situated in a very busy part of Johannesburg – one that is teeming with life, people who are trying to get by with the little means they have, and a palpability of the disenfranchisement that is abided owing to the history of our country. I refer to the geographical location of the JAG, owing to the commentary that the work of the artists is making on the conditions of life in post-apartheid South Africa. What the reader who is familiar with the decolonial tradition will note are the implications that the exhibition had for the context that defines the gallery space where it was curated and displayed. In the first instance, there is a sense that even as things have changed for the majority, with respect to our participation in the socio-political decision making of the country through universal franchise, there continues to be despair and hopelessness for the majority who would like to claim South Africa as home.