Senzeni Marasela Explained

Senzeni Marasela
Birth Date:11 February 1977
Birth Place:Thokoza, South Africa
Education:University of the Witwatersrand
Occupation:artist, author
Years Active:1997–present
Notable Works:Ijermani Lam (2013-2019)

Senzeni Marasela (born 11 February 1977) is a South African visual artist born in Thokoza who works across different media, combining performance, photography, video, prints, textiles, and embroidery in mixed-media installations. She obtained a BA in Fine Arts at the Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in 1998.

Her work has been exhibited in South Africa, Europe, and the United States, and is part of local and international collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Newark Museum.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Education

Senzeni Marasela attended Jonimfundo, a school, in Vosloorus, where she matriculated in 1994. After a one-day trip to the University of the Witwatersrand in 1992, she decided to enroll there. She developed her multimedia and performative practice at the Wits School of Arts, graduating in 1998.[6]

Career

Marasela's work has been regularly shown since the Martienssen Prize Exhibition in 1997. She was accepted as an exhibiting artist by the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg after being part of the group exhibition, Not Quite a Christmas Exhibition. She had her first solo exhibition at the Iziko South African National Gallery's Fresh exhibition series in 2000, which was part of a residency program. In 2003, she started a long-term performance entitled Theodorah comes to Johannesburg, which is based on stories her mother told about her 11-hour travel from Mvenyane to Johannesburg.[7]

In 2011, Marasela began work as a full-time artist and was part of the Johannesburg Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015.[8]

Work

Marasela's mother's collection of doilies and Victorian lace works, handed down in her family, influenced her artistic practice. Marasela's work explores the experiences of Black, South African women across a range of media. This includes photography, video, prints, and mixed-media installations that involve textiles and embroidery. In her work, she translates memories of struggle and urbanization through the use of material culture and narratives. For example, the use of the color red refers to cultural memories around the time of the "red dust," a period of drought in the early 1930s in South Africa. Her performances interweave these elements and multi-media works, making visible the dimension of the every day[9] through objects and clothes.[10]

She is known for her six-year performance work Ijermani Lam [11] which "materializes the condition of waiting"[12] by wearing the same red dress every day from 1 October 2013 to 1 October 2019. The original dresses were part of the group the exhibition, "Made Visible. Contemporary South African Fashion and Identity" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (February–May 2019).[13] Her work taps into cultural memories, such as using archival materials like newspapers and photographs printed onto colonial textiles. It tells stories of black women in South Africa, such as Sarah Baartman and Marasela's mother, Theodorah Mpofukazi Marasela, through series such as Covering Sarah Baartman (2011), Sarah, Senzeni and Theodorah come to Joburg (2011), Theodorah, (2005),[14] Waiting for Gebane (2017), Izithombe Zendawo Esizithandayo (2017). Marasela's artwork builds an "intimate archive",[15] giving voice to experiences of black women.

Exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Biennales

Notes and References

  1. Book: Clarke, Christa. Art, Identity, nationality and Autobiography. Senzeni Marasela and Lalla Essaydi. University of California Press. 2017. 9780520287365. Hodgson. D.. Oklahoma. 221–236.
  2. Book: Hudson, Heidi. Representations of Otherness and Resistance in Africa. Johannes Stegman Art Gallery. 2015. 978-0-86886-830-1. de Jesus. Angela. Bloemfontein. 4–14.
  3. Book: Crawshay-Hall, Jayne. Trans-Africa. Africa curating Africa. Absa Art Gallery. 2013. Johannesburg. 14–15, 52–53.
  4. Book: Gordon-Chipembere, Natasha. Under Cuvier's Microscope: The Dissection of Michelle Obama in the Twenty-First Century. Palgrave MacMillan. 2011. 9780230117792. Gordon-Chipembere. Natasha. New York. 165–180.
  5. Book: Richards, Colin. 10 Years 100 Artists. Art in a democratic South Africa. Bell-Roberts. 2004. 9781868729876. Perryer. Sophie. Cape Town. 230–233.
  6. Marasela . Senzeni . Senzeni Marasela . Dr Sharlene Khan . Creative dialogue with Senzeni Marasela . . Art on our Mind . Grahamstown/Makhanda, Eastern Cape, South Africa . 26 April 2018. 00:04:05-00:04:51 .
  7. Web site: Kouoh . Koyo . Senzeni Mthwakazi Marasela . 2024-02-28 . artreview.com . en.
  8. Web site: Das . Jareh . 7 April 2021 . Senzeni Marasela: ‘My work is rooted in Johannesburg’ . 27 February 2024 . Ocula.
  9. Ndebele. Njabulo S.. 1984. Turkish Tales. Staffrider. 6. 1 . 24–48. South African History Online.
  10. Marasela . Senzeni . Senzeni Marasela . Dr Sharlene Khan . Creative dialogue with Senzeni Marasela . . Art on our Mind . Grahamstown/Makhanda, Eastern Cape, South Africa . 26 April 2018. 00:18:25 .
  11. Web site: 2021 - Witsies with the art edge - Wits University . 2024-02-29 . www.wits.ac.za.
  12. Web site: South African Fashion and Identity. Mwaura. Denis. 2019-06-07. AFRICANAH.ORG. en-US. 2019-10-21.
  13. Web site: Made Visible. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. en. 2019-10-21.
  14. Web site: Senzeni Marasela MoMA. The Museum of Modern Art. en. 2019-10-21.
  15. Bystrom. Kerry. Nuttall. Sarah. 2013. Private lives and public cultures in South Africa. Cultural Studies. 27. 3 . 307–332. 10.1080/09502386.2013.777295. free.
  16. Web site: A R T T H R O B _ R E V I E W S _ G A U T E N G. artthrob.co.za. 2019-11-10.

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