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Rich in materiality and divergent in form, Southern Guild’s debut at Expo Chicago speaks to the ingenuity of the human hand and the labor-intensive processes that elevate the prosaic to the sublime.
For Expo Chicago 2023, Southern Guild presents a collection of works by leading artists from across the African continent. Highlights of the gallery’s booth in the main section of the fair include a large self-portrait in bronze by visual activist Zanele Muholi, representing the artist’s departure from an exclusively photographic oeuvre. Two large-scale ceramic and bronze sculptures from Zizipho Poswa’s critically acclaimed recent solo, uBuhle boKhokho, inspired by traditional styles of African hair, appear alongside recent works by Andile Dyalvane, Madoda Fani and Chuma Maweni – regarded as Africa’s foremost ceramicists.
Anchoring the booth is an expansive and tactile painting by Iranian artist Kamyar Bineshtarigh excavated from the wall of his studio in Salt River, Cape Town. New paintings by Manyaku Mashilo construct mythological scenes where imagined embodiments of Blackness migrate through abstract liminal spaces. Also included are bronze and hand-blown glass sculptures by Kenyan artist Stanislaw Trzebinski, new assemblage-sculpture by Nigerian-Canadian artist Oluseye, rubber tapestries by Congolese artist Patrick Bongoy, and a large bronze sculpture by Beninese artist Dominique Zinkpè. In addition, Southern Guild presents a large-scale fabric collage hanging by Jeanne Gaigher in the IN/SITU programme curated by Caludia Segura.
Kamyar Bineshtarigh
Factory Wall, 2022Wall paint, ink, cold glue on hessian backing
75.63 x 196 in. | 192 x 498 cm
Kamyar Bineshtarigh
Factory Wall III, 2022Wall paint, ink, crayon, cold glue, bleach on hessian backing
67.75 x 185 in. | 172 x 470 cm
Patrick Bongoy
Plumage, 2022Recycled rubber inner tube, found metal parts on board
76.75 x 53.13 x 8.63 in. | 195 x 135 x 22 cm
Patrick Bongoy
Portal, 2022Recycled rubber inner tube, found metal parts on board
118⅛ x 63 x 9⅞ in. | 300 x 160 x 25 cm
Andile Dyalvane
Intshatshoba (Maize Stalk Flower)Earthenware
13.38 x 15.75 x 17.75 in. | 34 x 40 x 45 cm
Andile Dyalvane
Nkcokocha (Mountain Peak), 2016Glazed earthenware, wenge
59 x 31.5 x 15.75 in. | 150 x 80 x 40 cm
Madoda Fani
Ubom'obutsha (New Life), 2022Smoke-fired earthenware
37.38 x 19.75 x 19.75 in. | 95 x 50 x 50 cm
Jeanne Gaigher
Dimensions of a dialogue II, 2022Canvas, bookbinders mull, thread, ink, acrylic, watercolour
118.13 x 196.88 in.
Jeanne Gaigher
The sieve as secrecy, 2023Canvas, bookbinders mull, thread, ink, acrylic, watercolour, natural dye
74.38 x 96.88 in.
Manyaku Mashilo
What We Saw. What We Made. When We Emerge., 2022Acrylic, ink on canvas
56.25 x 76 in. | 143 x 193 cm
Oluseye
Eminado Series, Reunion 7, 2018 – OngoingFound objects, rubber, synthetic hair, cowry shells
38 x 26⅛ x 3 in.
Oluseye
Eminado Series, Reunion 8, 2018 – OngoingFound objects, rubber, synthetic hair, cowry shells
Variable dimensions
Oluseye
Eminado Series, Reunion 9, 2018 – OngoingFound objects, rubber, synthetic hair, cowry shells
29¾ x 26⅛ x 3⅜ in.
Oluseye
Eminado Series, Reunion 10, 2018 – OngoingFound objects, rubber, synthetic hair, cowry shells
34⅝ x 25¼ x 3 in.
Zizipho Poswa
Fang Ndom, Cameroon, 2022Glazed earthenware, bronze
35 x 44.13 x 43.25 in. | 89 x 112 x 110 cm