Native nostalgia under the spotlight

Taking its title from Jacob Dlamini’s 2009 book, the exhibition is an exploration of imagined nostalgia in five African countries: Algeria, Benin, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa.

The museum’s Aaron Kohn explained, “The exhibition tells the stories of bygone eras, positioning them firmly within present day narratives. Through architecture, construction, cartography, photography, communal archives and historical re-enactment, each artist and participant has a conversation with a past through which they did not live by juxtaposing design elements with those of today.”

Kohn said that, in his book, Dlamini probed the ethical justification for fond memories of a childhood in a South African township during apartheid.

“How, he asks, can a black South African reflect on something so deplorable with nostalgia? The works in this show represent a related form of nostalgia: the nostalgia and positive yearning for a troubled time through which one did not live,” said Kohn.

He pointed to artist Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou by way of example.

“Adbodjelou reflects on the narrative of Benin’s capital, Porto Novo, through the traditional role of women, ceremonial masks and the Aguda architectural style largely brought back from Brazil by slaves who were deported from there after the early 1800s slave revolts,” said Kohn.

“The design of his family’s mansion from pre-colonial times as well as the women’s fabirics, masks and topless dress contrast with the peeling paint and ornate Portuguese-style woodwork.”

South African collective I See A Different You’s 1975 Mercedes 280E (W114), parked in the middle of the gallery, was described as a “physical specimen of design that the trio drives in their every day life”.

“Rather than bask in the glory of contemporary vehicular stylings, the three ‘Born Frees’ use their camera with one foot planted firmly in the past associated with their childhood in Soweto and the politics of a time they did not live through,” he said.

Kohn said these juxtapositions were reflective of a broader trend toward nostalgia, and despite a fascination with the colonial archive on the part of many collectors and artists, this younger generation of artists was recreating its own imagined memories.

“For South Africans in their early 20s and younger, the nation is defined more by the post-1994 intersection of Mandela-style reconciliation and rapid globalisation than it is by the struggle against apartheid,” said Kohn.

“Perhaps because they did not live through the darker days, 20-somethings buy domestic worker outfits for parties and listen to house music alongside older Marabi jazz.”

Exhibition highlights will include the Nigeria Nostalgia Project from Lagos, The Trinity Sessions’ Hillbrow/Dakar/Hillbrow from Johannesburg, and Amina Menia’s Extra Muros 1 from Algiers.

The exhibition will run from 14 November until 9 February at the museum, 281 Commissioner Street, Maboneng Precinct.

Details: www.moadjhb.com