ZANA MASOMBUKA - Time + Nodugwana: An Ode to My Grandmother
Cellar Contemporary's new exhibition season opens with a solo show by Zana Masombuka, a South African artist, photographer and performer (born 1995). She created the "Ndebele Superhero" platform, inspired by the anthropological heritage of the rural indigenous population of the village where she grew up.
The photographic series "Time" and "Ode to My Grandmother", produced between 2019 and 2020 and exhibited for the first time in Italy, are a story told through images, punctuated by the phases of the artist's life and the people who have played a crucial role for her: the Ndebele community and her maternal grandmother.
From the collective embrace of the project dedicated to the passing of time, where young and old generations are invited to overcome their own peculiar rigidities and to meet each other in order to exchange energy and knowledge, the artist carries out a kind of translation of the same theme by focusing on an intimate and individual family diary inspired by the figure of her ancestor.
The photographs by Zana Masombuka, who undertakes a long process of transformation and self-training through make-up, costume and performance posing, compose a visual narrative of great aesthetic and formal balance, with a clear and empathetic message and transversal power.
The exhibition is also part of the recent Caravan SetUp project, which includes an on-site residency and a Lectio Magistralis by the artist at Palazzo Te, launched on the occasion of the C-Change Festival in collaboration with Alkémica Soc. Coop. and the Municipality of Mantua.
