Grace in Grand Bassam

Southern Guild presents Grace in Grand-Bassam, a solo presentation by emerging Johannesburg artist Terence Maluleke. Visiting Côte d’Ivoire for the first time, unable to speak the language and with little access to the Internet, Maluleke felt a strange sense of familiarity when encountering the local community.

His series of large-scale paintings foreground the human form – angular contortions of dancing figures, a squad of soccer players moving in tandem or sprawled out at rest, the zigzagging invocation of a man whose arms stretch out in prayer. In many of these scenes, the humble plastic jelly sandal – known locally as “lêkê” – is ubiquitous, no matter the age, gender or station of its wearer. Maluleke describes its “democratising” effect – worn and shared freely, the property of one and all. He exploits the sandal’s graphic shape as a repetitive motif; employed en masse, it is a synecdoche for communal life.

Maluleke often disrupts these narrative scenarios by calling attention to the artwork’s surface: fragments of calla lilies float over a soccer player’s sandaled feet, stars dance across a pandemonium of figures in motion. There is joy and pride here, celebration and ritual, with women bedecked in elaborate gold jewellery and hair ornaments depicting lizards, crocodiles, flowers and fish.

Maluleke came to painting after establishing himself as an accomplished visual developer for Walt Disney Animation Studios, Sony Pictures Animation, Netflix and Triggerfish. Born in Soweto (1995), he draws inspiration from the township community he grew up in, creating stylised portraits and still lifes that explore the contemporary Black experience. Foregoing the specificity of individualistic portraiture, he embraces the multiplicity of pan-African Black identities in his art. The artist co-founded Kasi Sketchbook, a non-profit project that offers drawing clubs to children and young adults in Johannesburg’s townships.

Maluleke works from August House, a famed studio within Johannesburg's inner city. He has exhibited at Latitudes Art Fair (2023) and in group shows at Kalashnikovv Gallery (2022) and Bkhz (2023).