Maverick Life

South African artists Zanele Muholi and Zizipho Poswa bring powerful artworks to Frieze Sculpture in London

Zizipho Poswa. (Photo: Katinka Bester / Southern Guild)

17 Oct 2024

Frieze Sculpture, set against the backdrop of London’s Regent’s Park, features works from 22 artists spanning five continents. Curated by author and writer Fatoş Üstek, this year’s public art exhibition includes two commanding sculptures by South African artists Zanele Muholi and Zizipho Poswa.

The book The Visual Detox: How to Consume Media Without Letting it Consume You by art expert Marine Tanguy highlights the power of placing artworks in public spaces outside traditional venues. Indeed, art displayed in public spaces is often unexpected. It appears without warning, catches you off guard, and invites the passer-by to explore further, to think beyond the artwork’s own narrative, considering the context in which it is placed.

At Regent’s Park, curator Fatoş Üstek’s vision to expand “the boundaries of what sculpture can represent in public spaces” is evident, disrupting the traditional setup of the royal garden and transforming the landscape for a few weeks.

Sculptures in a public setting like this invite unexpected interactions: a jogger lifting their gaze at a glazed ceramic titled Pillar III (Comfortably Numb) by Frances Goodman, or at Zanele Muholi’s Bambatha I, a moving, powerful and deeply personal bronze artwork; or a family setting a blanket for a picnic on the grass next to Zizipho Poswa’s impressive 2.8m ceramic and bronze sculpture Lobi.

These interactions breathe energy into the art; they inspire a dialogue between the viewer and the piece that breaks away from the more structured narrative typically imposed within the confines of a gallery.

Daily Maverick spoke with Trevyn McGowan, founder and CEO of Southern Guild, the gallery representing ceramist Zizipho Poswa and visual activist, humanitarian and art practitioner Zanele Muholi. Muholi also has a spectacular exhibition at the Tate Modern, the first comprehensive showcase of their work in the UK, until 26 January 2025.

It was the first time Southern Guild participated in Frieze Sculpture. How did this inaugural presentation influence the selected pieces you chose to showcase?

Trevyn McGowan: The outdoor setting of Frieze Sculpture called for monumentality and a powerful sense of presence. Poswa and Muholi are two of our most prominent artists, making work on an ambitious scale that embodies community and heritage while speaking movingly of their own personal experience.

We had witnessed the impact of the sculptures within the confines of the gallery (both artists had recent solo exhibitions at Southern Guild LA earlier this year) so we were intrigued about seeing them in a more expansive context where nature, a diverse urban population and British heritage converge.

Frieze Muholi Zanele Muholi (2024) (Photo: Jorge Meza | Southern Guild)

How did you decide which Zanele Muholi and Zizipho Poswa pieces to showcase at this year’s fair?

TM: The works were chosen for their scale, narrative depth and sociopolitical resonance.

Measuring 2.8m high, Poswa’s Lobi represents a career milestone, produced during her 2023 residency at California State University Long Beach, where she had access to immense kilns. The work’s heraldic bronze crest is a larger-than-life reproduction of an ornate brass hairpin worn by the Lobi people. Standing tall among the trees, it reads like a beacon of sorts – an arresting symbol of Africa’s rich history of jewellery and bodily adornment.

Muholi’s Bambatha I is a visceral depiction of entanglement and struggle – both for the artist and the LGBTQIA+ community.

It is among their most personal sculptures to date, the malignant tubing referring to the artist’s struggle with fibroids and gender dysphoria.

The bronze figure carries a wider political resonance, too: it was created after the artist learnt about two victims of gender-based violence, whose bodies were discovered not far from their home in Durban. The suffocating form is a visceral evocation of pain and anguish at the ongoing prevalence of femicide and violent hate crimes in South Africa.

What aspects of their work felt most resonant for the context of the fair?

TM: In the context of an international fair, the works represent greater visibility for the perspectives, experiences and histories of Black women and Queer people, both of which have historically fallen outside of the mainstream art world.

This was also underscored during the fair by Muholi’s wide-ranging solo exhibition at Tate Modern, which is currently drawing large crowds and really helping to shine a light on the need for inclusivity and broader representation in our cultural institutions.

Frieze Poswa Lobi Lobi (2024) by Zizipho Poswa. (Photo: Linda Nylind | Frieze | Southern Guild)

What do you imagine visitors at Frieze experienced emotionally when encountering Muholi’s and Poswa’s work in the open air, as opposed to within gallery walls?

TM: Placing both Muholi’s and Poswa’s works within an open green space felt like a powerful invitation for viewer engagement that was varied and generative. I think both works evoke a sense of surprise and familiarity or relatability for different reasons.

Zizipho’s ceramic forms invite a sensual response and sense of gravitas due to its statuesque, almost declarative weight and bronze crest. Muholi’s figure stops people in their tracks – it is confronting in its portrayal of disfigurement and survival, both deeply human and strangely alien.

What gives Zizipho Poswa’s work a universal resonance, even for those unfamiliar with the cultural narratives she’s drawing from?

TM: There’s something archetypal in Zizipho’s vernacular. I think she is capable of communicating something deeply resonant through colour, texture and totemic form that lands regardless of the conceptual and cultural contexts at play.

The particular body of work Lobi forms part of Indyebo yakwaNtu (Black Bounty), which opened our Los Angeles space in February this year, felt truly monumental. I think her expanding symbologies carry a significance that is felt across cultures and geographies.

Zizipho Poswa. (Photo: Katinka Bester / Southern Guild)

What conversations did Zanele Muholi’s sculpture, Bambatha I, spark about the intersections of health, gender and identity?

ZM: Muholi’s manifesto has always been grounded in the plight of visibility. By monumentalising a Black, gender non-conforming body – one who has historically been denied access to public spaces – the work has the capacity to incite conversation around visibility, invisibility, gender, race, reproductive health and societal treatment of non-binary people.

We’ve witnessed myriad emotional responses, from awe to joy to discomfort – and all are welcome. Muholi’s work as a visual activist is greatly concerned with cultivating new visual languages that centre representation. This kind of authentic, symbiotic exchange is not only welcome but vital.

Which other artists are you considering recommending for the next Frieze or another upcoming art fair?

TM: Next up is Design Miami in December, featuring ceramic artists and designers from the continent (including Poswa alongside luminaries Andile Dyalvane, Madoda Fani and Chuma Maweni, as well as first-time exhibitors Belinda Blignaut, Ben Orkin and Jabulile Nala).

Untitled Art (also in December) will feature artists Jozua Gerrard, Dominique Zinkpè, Patrick Bongoy and Wycliffe Mundopa. DM

Frieze Sculpture is at the Regent's Park until 27 October 2024.

Zizipho Poswa is a Cape Town-based artist whose large-scale ceramic and bronze sculptures are bold declarations of African womanhood.

Zanele Muholi is a visual activist, humanitarian and art practitioner who focuses on the documentation and celebration of the lives of South Africa’s Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex communities.

You can follow Southern Guild for regular updates on new work, exhibitions and events on Instagram (@southernguildgallery), as well as the artists themselves (@zizipo_poswa | @muholizanele).

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