Taking centre stage at the exhibition is the large-scale collaborative piece Umhlatshelo Wokushiswa Udliwe Ngumlilo (a sacrifice to be burnt and devoured by fire) which focuses on the murder, and subsequent blunderings in the handling of the case by the state, of Orlando Pirates star Senzo Meyiwa. The work is an expression of outrage at the violence that took Meyiwa's life, at the ineptitude of the justice system, at the dehumanising media coverage and the ways in which ordinary citizens became spectators to this case.
The work takes this feeling of outrage and uses it to construct a sense of ritual which the artists thought was absent in Meyiwa's death. It shines a light on his life, and his death. In seeking to provide a sense of ritual amid the violence and cruelty of what happened to Meyiwa and how it was handled, the artists cast a light towards something more caring and humane.
Siphamandla Ex is a Johannesburg-based artist whose work looks at the ways we internalise and re-enact acts of violence. For this exhibition, he has painted a series of portraits that depict the faces of those who have access to the truth in cases of injustice and those representatives of the state who act against the interests of the people. The series is a damning indictment of the current workings of our political and judicial systems and is a call for accountability. Siphamandla Ex's work prompts important conversations which he hopes bring us closer to ending the patterns of violence embedded in South Africa.
After studying at Artist Proof Studios Joburg-based artist Layziehound has been creating abstract works which delve into philosophical questions around freedom, power and, in the case of this exhibition, justice. In particular, he has addressed the ways in which people are excluded from justice as well as how people are complicit in injustice through feigned ignorance.
Together their exhibition Diaries of Injustice provides an important political cry for action and is one which raises key questions if we are to move forward as a society.
Exhibition opens Wed, Oct 26 at 18:00, and runs until Nov 26.
