NO PLACE LIKE THIS

The photographs of Thabiso Sekgala (1981-2014) capture human living conditions and experience; quietly, simply and yet echoing the complexity of their histories and memories. In the exhibition NO PLACE LIKE THIS recent works of his KfW foundation fellowship taken in Germany and Belgium were on display.

 

The work of the Johannesburg born artist is strongly influenced by his upbringing in the rural and urban South Africa and the duality of these two environments. A duality determining his portraits and landscapes, works that illustrate local problems around land (loss), migration, identity and ideas of home. "My work penetrates the relationship of memories and self-conceptions connected with places", says the Artist.

 

There is no place like this place, anywhere near this place, so this must be the place

 

The exhibition NO PLACE LIKE THIS illustrates how people create in situ identities grounded on the country's complex problems, its burdened past and the search of belonging. Sekgala explores places and memories people relate to. Eventually, his work confronts us with the question of what it actually means to call a place "home".

 

(excerpt exhibition text; Annika Hirsekorn)