Earlier this month, the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture FADA Gallery at the University of Johannesburg inaugurated a dual exhibition that featured Senzeni Maraselas Waiting and Remembering, from 7 to 22 June.
The exhibition expanded Maraselas commitment to art as public memory work. As a VIAD Research Associate and Thami Mnyele Foundation fellow, Maraselas practice resonates far beyond local geographies a transnational dialogue that bridges past, present and speculative futures.
Senzeni Marasela, born in 1977 in Thokoza, Gauteng, is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans performance, photography, textiles, video and installation. A graduate of the Wits School of Arts 1998, she explores themes of black South African womanhood, memory and displacement through archival materials and material culture.
Marasela has exhibited widely, both locally and internationally, including at the Museum of Modern Art New York, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Johannesburg Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale.
On 11 June, the artist, accompanied by her curator, the artist and researcher Refilwe Nkomo, led a walkabout at FADA. Throughout the tour, Marasela responded to audience questions with the same deliberate subtlety that animates her practice.