Images in Athenkosi Kwinana’s exhibition about people living with albinism at Berman Contemporary gaze back at you

Ndijongile is on at Berman Contemporary (223 Jan Smuts Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg). From the 7th of September to the 19th of October 2024.

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

I know that the week of FNB Art Joburg was a hectic one, with of course the viewing of art works at the Sandton Convention Centre being at the centre of decisions those who love art were making that week. There was also the issue of art parties that were taking place all over the city. I attended one myself-a lunch party at Stevenson Gallery on the Saturday of the art fair.  It was a great afternoon that I really enjoyed. There was sumptuous food and there were also good wines. It appeared as if the whole vine yard was dragged to that party as guests enjoyed the drinks amid chit chats.

However, I was wise to have first decided that I was going to attend an exhibition, a special exhibition for that matter, Athenkosi Kwinana’s exhibition titled Ndijongile at Berman Contemporary (223 Jan Smuts Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg. You see Kwinana, who has emerged in recent years not only as one of the most talented visual artists, but a meticulous researcher on the times and lives of people living with albinism in this country, who face constant challenges that the rest of society does not have to deal with has found a mission in her art practice. In fact Kwinana has turned her art practice into an activist practice that highlights the lives of people living with albinism, a skin and eye condition that sometimes makes it hard for those living with this condition to see properly as the condition limits their vision. Besides the issue of impaired sight, there are also other complications they have to navigate.

This exhibition is not flying solo though, as Kwinana has also incorporated voices of other artists, a majority of them who also live with albinism, and the majority of them are photographers whose images are beautifully displayed alongside the work of Kwinana.

What emerges from this representation is a mix of showing the normalness with which people living with this condition carry on in their daily lives, particularly images taken by the group of photographers whose works compliment Ndijongile.

I previously visited Kwinana while she was working in the studio creating this body of work in a space called the Creatory, which is a kind of residency/laboratory for emerging artists to work in for a solo exhibition at Berman Contemporary later.  At the time she reflected that often artists try to represent people living with this condition, and the results are not always pleasing.

Kwinana’s work forces a viewer to gaze at the image and have a deep, contemplative conversation with your own attitude, that you may inhibit when it comes to people living with albinism. Sometimes difficult to confront, but at times making a viewer to see life from the point of view of those living with this condition, Ndijongile is a powerful representation of people living with albinism, created by one of their own, who does not only draw from her own personal experiences but from others’ through extensive research that she has done of the subject. Part of that research exists in text on the walls of the gallery exhibited alongside the images.  The result is these powerful images that speak and look back at the viewer. You look at them, and they look at you with the same intensity, creating a silent but powerful conversation between the viewer and the image. This is important.

Often when visual artists try to represent the lives of people living with albinism, well meant they maybe, they tend to misrepresent them due to ignorance as it is due to lack of proper research. This is where Kwinana who holds an MFA degree from University of Johannesburg comes in handy. She has researched this subject extensively in her MFA studies, and it shows through the intellectual rigour embedded in Ndijongile.

“My solo exhibition, Ndijongile, translated from Xhosa to ‘I have looked, creates a platform for representations of people with albinism in South African visual culture over the past two decades (2004-2024).

In addition to showcasing my own work, I have incorporated a group exhibition that features the artistic voices of other artists who share her interest in depicting albinism.

This collaborative effort challenges the historical lack of representation of PWA and seeks to broaden the scope of how the albinotic body is portrayed in art and society.

Showing at Berman Contemporary (223 Jan Smuts Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg).
From the 7th of September to the 19th of October 2024,” the artist writes.

This is an exhibition you need to visit before it goes down as it will leave you not only i8nformed about this condition, but also the visual talent that exists among this community. Kwinana is one of them to look out for in future.