Artist Thonton Kabeya on the move, currently exhibiting in Cape Town and soon at Dakar Biennale

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

When Congolese born and South African based visual artist Thonton Kabeya had an introspection exhibition at Wits Art Museum, which looked at the artists’ 10 years of artistic practice in South Africa, event attracted a huge number of visitors. Today, it remains one of the most visited exhibitions in the history of the Braamfontein based museum.

One of the works that attracted eyes and constant gaze from the visitors is a giant mural of figures showing a street scene titled Inner City Blues. Many people were attracted to this giant piece due to the fact that it depicts a scene that many an urban resident has come to know so well. It is work that depicts the lives of people living in the city, who often find themselves struggling to assert their presences in the tough urban spaces where competition for opportunities is fierce and finding decent accommodation is a challenge, forcing such people to have a mind shift in these new often alienating environs.

In other words, Inner City Blues captures the nuances and complexities of living in a city that defines the lives of many who find themselves in cities.  This striking picture due to its social resonance is currently find itself on the move. Those who have seen this image at Wits Art Museum will not be surprised to know that the ever same picture, at least smaller versions of the same4 series, are currently at the Investec Cape Town Art fair. The same, bigger version of this series has been selected for exhibit at the Dakar Biennale for this year. It is Kabeya’s debut there.

“What happened is that an curator who visited my Introspection exhibition liked this piece and he recommended that I apply to the Dakar Biennale. I did not know the curator and at first, I was therefore hesitant, and only applied on the closing date,” Kabeya told CITYLIFE/ARTS in an interview held at a Melville Coffee shop where he is a regular. He lives in the neighbourhood. The interview was done as the artists was preparing to leave for Cape Town, where he was going to be joined by his 12 year old daughter who was to fly from the DRC to take a connecting flight at OR Tambo International Airport.

“I am excited that this time around I will be joined by my daughter to the Art Fair, who will be assisting me,” Kabeya said, expressing pride in the fact that the daughter is in fact a budding writer.

Kabeya since he came to South Africa 10 years ago, has built a solid art practice in Johannesburg, with his studio currently based in Johannesburg, having been so productive that he has built a solid collector base in South Africa, art lovers who have found both emotional and intellectual connection with his work. At the Investec Cape Town Art fair, he is represented by his gallery Everard Read, with which he signed last year after working successfully as an independent artist for most of the 10 years that he has been based in South Africa.

Kabeya has in fact traversed a well calculated path to artistic success in South Africa, and his approach to his practice intentionally based on professional principles and seriousness. For example, the Introspection exhibition was initiated by him, with his gallery of course supporting him throughout the process till the works were up and till the exhibition came down after three months of intellectual engagement with visitors through a series of talks called Family Talks. The day the exhibition came down, the artists went all out, almost as if it was the opening of the event, complete with an opera ensemble musically interpreting some of the pieces on the walls. This was clearly a far departure from the closing of exhibitions that we have come to know in Johannesburg. If anything the seriousness with which this artists takes his career, it is something worth emulating by fellow visual artists in South Africa. This approach clearly adds value to the artist’s art practice and his works.

He is clearly an artist on the move. For example from June this year, till the end of the year, he will be based in Ghana, West Africa, where he netted a six month residency.

“I will have keep a studio in Johannesburg, apart from the one in Ghana. In other words, I will be travelling between Accra and Johannesburg where my studios will be based. In fact I am currently considering having two bases –West Africa and southern Africa in future. I am also considering having an exhibition is St Paolo in Brazil in future as well,” the artist told me.

The artist is already currently focussing on another introspection exhibition, which will take place in 2033. “The venue and country has not been yet decided,” he said. But that exhibition will focus on his art practice covering the next 10 years.

But it is perhaps Kabeya’s participation at the Dakar Biennale that is of particular interest for both the artistic showcase’s intellectual prestige and the international profiling of the participating artists which comes with being selected.

Dak’Art: African Contemporary Art Biennale has  meantime revealed the theme, artist list and guest curators of its upcoming 15th edition, which runs from 16 May to 16 June 2024.

Entitled The Wake, Dak’Art 2024 will explore the relationship between art, society, the climate and history, particularly in the context of Dakar. Calling for an awakening to the social and environmental crises confronting the world, the biennial positions artists as the drivers of a new global narrative.

Fifty-eight artists from Africa and its diaspora will be represented at the biennial. Working across drawing, virtual reality, sound, sculpture and photography, they include Adel Adessemed, Sara Altantawi, Hiba Baddou, Youness Ben Slimane, Hicham Berrada, Dalila Dalleas Bouzar, Slimen El Kamel, Majida Khattari, Faten Rouissi, Youssef Taki Miloudi and Ghizlane Sahli.

Dak’Art 2024 will consist of multiple exhibitions held at various venues across Dakar. Kara Blackmore, Marynet J and Cindy Olohou will curate a special exhibition entitled On s’arrêtera quand la Terre rugira (We will stop when the Earth roars), which brings together the works of ten international artists revolving around urgent issues surrounding the contemporary ecological crisis and examines how its effects are most deeply felt by countries who are least responsible for it.

List of participating artists

Adel Adessemed
Sara Altantawi
Clay Apenouvon
Hiba Baddou
Oumar Ball
Mugabo Baritegera
Sonia Barrett
Arebenor Bassene
Ama Be
Youness Ben Slimane
Hicham Berrada
Dalila Dalleas Bouzar
Agnes Brezephin
Jenna Burchell
Salimata Camara
Sika Da Sylveira
Elladji Lincy Deloumeaux
Aliou Diack
Collectif Diodos
Mohamed Diop
Senami Donoumassou
Sokari Douglas- Camp
Slimen El Kamel
Samuel Gelas
Astrid Gonzalez
Thonton Kabeya
Tahir Carl Karmali
Majida Khattari
Pascal Konan
Lo-Def Film Factory
Mad in Pixel
Galane Romane Madede
Marie-Claire Messouma Manlanbien
Martin Lukongo Masudi
Primo Mauridi
Wilfried Mbida
Tuli Mekondjo
Stéphanie Melyon-Reinette
Siwa Mgoboza
Maya Mihindou
Youssef Taki Miloudi
Wangechi Mutu
Mouhamadou N’doye (N’doye Douts)
Lizette Nin
Ronald Odur
Masud Olufani
Nengi Omuku
Nyaba Leon Ouedraogo
Abdou Ouologuem
Sidney Regis
Faten Rouissi
Ghizlane Sahli
Shivay la Multiple
Jake Michael Singer
Dior Thiam
Gina Athéna Ulysse
Skumbuzo Vabaza
Ezra Wube