https://soundcloud.com/paul-maheke/paul-maheke-a-flesh-without-the-memory-of-its-wound/s-GEF5cGdKTsv
This work is from a series copper plate drawings formed through an oxidation process involving liver of sulphur. The drawings explore international histories of the devil and figures of death. The unique properties of the copper, which allow for the work’s image to form, extend to its therapeutic qualities used in alternative medicine as well as its ability to conduct electricity and heat.
This work is from a series copper plate drawings formed through an oxidation process involving liver of sulphur. The drawings explore international histories of the devil and figures of death. The unique properties of the copper, which allow for the work’s image to form, extend to its therapeutic qualities used in alternative medicine as well as its ability to conduct electricity and heat.
Paul Maheke’s artistic interest is in the social construct of corporeality, the invisible, and the forces that influence and inform our bodies and identities. In ‘As Saturn And Jupiter Conjunct’, four curtains overlaid with text fragments highlight how we relate to our surroundings, to each other, and to the material and immaterial forms of the universe. The sheer fabric suggests both intimacy and privacy, reflecting the desire to to see while protecting what remains hidden.
This work is from a series copper plate drawings formed through an oxidation process involving liver of sulphur. The drawings explore international histories of the devil and figures of death. The unique properties of the copper, which allow for the work’s image to form, extend to its therapeutic qualities used in alternative medicine as well as its ability to conduct electricity and heat.
Ibis is from a series of copper-plate drawings formed through an oxidation process involving the liver of sulphur. The drawings explore international histories of the devil and figures of death. The unique properties of the copper, which allow for the work’s image to form, extend to its therapeutic qualities used in alternative medicine as well as its ability to conduct electricity and heat.
Reflecting on his practice, Maheke notes; “A good part of my work is based on simple gestures that once consisted in placing works, which might not even be noticed, in public spaces. It has now expanded to video, installation and sculptural works. The practice itself is grounded in decolonial and emancipatory thought with a focus on cultural identity and new subjectivities.”
Turn The Tide: Redo forms part of a body of work presented in Maheke’s first solo exhibition with the gallery in Johannesburg; Vanille Bleue. The title of the exhibition refers to a type of vanilla in- indigenous to L’Île de la Reunion, once home to Maheke’s parents. Maheke cites writers such as Audre Lorde and Édouard Glissant for their use of poetry to “play on one of the most oppressive structures we have – language.”
Much of those meanings are rooted in Maheke’s interest in the invisible, and sometimes very concrete forces that affect our bodies as well as our identities and how we experience ourselves. These forces comprise everything from the political and social understanding of our history, to more mystical and spiritual understandings, as well as the sonic and physical forces such as gravity that surround us.
120 x 79 cm