Central artist makes his debut solo exhibition

Artist Bruce Bowale (26) recently launched his first solo exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum titled “Resonance of My Body”.

It will be on display at the museum until July 14.

The collection of 14 pieces embodies works from the artist’s upbringing in Limpopo, Zebediela to moving to Sunnyside and the values he holds dear to his heart. He has been working on the pieces since 2018 and used two photographs from his childhood: his first birthday and his younger brothers’ birthdays.

During the production of the work, Bowale also found resonance in the book Poor Folk/s, a collection of four short stories written by Tokelo Hlagala. This sparked a collaboration between the two creatives.

Bowale related most to the second book in Poor Folk/s, “For Whom The Bell Tolls”.

The work was first previewed at the Pretoria Art Museum’s Kopanong Art Studio between 2021-2022. Author Tokelo Hlagala read an extract from the short story “For Whom The Bell Tolls” at the opening which permeates the surfaces of the body of work comprising the exhibition.

He used fusions of pencil, charcoal, soft pastels, ink and watercolours to connect the short story to his drawings.

“These are all people that I know, people that I’ve lived with so these are memories from home, the captioning, scenarios, these are things that have happened in my real life,” he said.

Bowale moved to Pretoria in 2007 and went to Sunnyside Primary, then Glen High School and graduated from TUT in 2018 in visual arts. His works are currently being used at the Glen as part of their visual arts curriculum and he has been participating in various exhibitions since his varsity days. However, this is his first headline exhibition.

He said he fell in love with art from a young age and knew it was a career he wished to pursue since Grade 4 as he used to sell A4 drawings to his classmates for R5 growing up.

“[The short story] ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’ resonated with me because it spoke on the daily reality of life growing up back home. You understand what’s common, the activities we would play as children at home.
“The playing of soccer on the streets and the ice cream man, things like that. We used to run into our homes and ask for R2 to buy ice cream, some were fortunate, and some were not. Even during break times if one didn’t have a lunchbox, one would just go play soccer to avoid hunger, those are things similar to me that I had to express,” he explained.

Bowale said he feels excited and hopeful about what headline his first exhibition will bring for him, hopes to collaborate with more creatives and sees himself winning an award at some stage in his future.

He also expressed his appreciation for the Pretoria Art Museum as it turned 60 on May 20. He said that the museum has given a platform for young artists to showcase their work.

“Shout out to them, we are very appreciative of the museum. We feel recognised by them and hope that they continue the legacy going forward and help the upcoming generation of creatives as well because we all need space and help to shine. It’s one of the platforms that allows us as visual artists to do that,” he said.

Bowale advised young upcoming artists to stay dedicated to their craft and keep their focus on creating more regardless of what distractions may arise.

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