Iyeza an exhibition by Standard Bank Young artist Buhlebezwe Siwani takes you into mystery of healing plants
By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor
The gallery was packed with fellow artists, art enthusiasts and those interested in investing in art financially or in support in one way or the other. After all she is the Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner for 2021. But as fate would have it, and thanks to Covid-19, she could not have a season last year. And it is only now that she could have a solo exhibition. And this means that the 2022 winner Lady Skollie will also have a delayed exhibition as a result.
Buhlebezwe Siwani is definitely the artist of the moment right now. The art spotlight is definitely on her and she is poised to go places with her art practice. In fact she already is, as on the opening night of the exhibition last week Thursday, February 23, 2023, at the Standard Bank Gallery we were told that she currently travels between Amsterdam and Johannesburg.
The show was worth waiting for though. Not only is her art practice embedded within her daily cultural practice as a healer, it also just fits in well with the current global consciousness around issues of environment. Mother Earth is currently undergoing stress, and some activists are even suggesting that one day it may even explode and eat its own children.
This is because it will no longer be able to absorb the blows it constantly gets from destructive human activity, such industrialisation as big companies continue to aim for big profits, irrespective of the damage to the environment. Gas emission levels remain high. Global warming is now a serious issue that is starting to affect all of us.
Iyeza currently on at the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg CBD deals with all these issues of healing properties of plants and how these wild plants need to be preserved, respected and nurtured and replaced when they are used. The oceans too deserve the same as the hold a life and some of the plants in there are beneficiary to humanity as they are used in healing by especially traditional healers like her.
And so through this exhibition you will be taken on a journey of environmental activism like no other. This is done through the work of an artist who also has the gift of healing, having undergone initiation herself. However the artist will take you through this environmental consciousness and awareness not in a preachy way. Neither does she do so in an aggressive way, such as the ways sometimes chosen by environmental activists as they try to drive their points home.
Iyeza is persuasive as you gain an insights into these complex issues of the environment through watching her performance installation recorded on film. Through this performance installation, you will travel deep into the ocean, allowing you to engage with oceanic life. The film will also take you deep into the forest, the wilderness where the healing plants are found and are harvested by healers like her. The film is complemented by a photographic installation as well.
This is an exhibition worth visiting before it comes down in April, 2023.
Today, Thursday, March, 2023, Standard Bank Gallery will be celebrating Buhle’s exhibition through a performance by jazz artist Zoe Modiga, a previous winner of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for jazz. This performance, which is part of the traditional gallery function First Thursday is by invitation only.
However Iyeza which is currently on at the Standard Bank Gallery Corner Frederick and Simmonds streets, Marchalltown is open to the public.