giclée print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag

Artwork date: 2017
Signature details: accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist
Edition: number 1, from an edition of 6 + 2AP

(1)

image size: 56 x 84 cm, framed size: 61 x 90 cm

Notes:

Musa N. Nxumalo lives and works in Soweto, South Africa. He received his introduction to photography at the Market Photo Workshop, where he completed the Foundation and Intermediate Courses between 2006 and 2008. In 2015, he was nominated for the prestigious First Book Award, as well as the first prize in Visual Art for the Impact Awards in 2010. Solo exhibitions include: We Are Running Out Of Hashtags!, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town (2020); 16 Shots, SMAC Gallery, Johannesburg (2017); The Anthology of Youth at SMAC Gallery’s presentation at the FNB Joburg Art Fair (2016); and In Search Of …, SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch (2015), and the Goethe-Institut, Johannesburg (2015). In 2020, Nxumalo was selected to participate in NIRIN, the 22nd Sydney Biennale curated by Brook Andrews. During 2019, Nxumalo’s work was included in SMAC Gallery’s presentation at 1-54
Contemporary African Art Fair at Somerset House, London, as well as the group exhibition Crossing Night: Regional Identities x Global Context at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit. Further notable group exhibitions include: Africa State of Mind at Impressions Gallery in Bradford, the Museum of African Diaspora in San Francisco, and the Royal West England Academy in Bristol (2019); and Night Fever: Designing Club Culture 1960 – Today at ADAM - Brussels Design Museum (2019). Nxumalo was selected to take part in the 11th edition of the Bamako Encounters Photography Biennial as part of Afrotopia, curated by Marie-Ann Yemsi (2018); Art/Afrique, le nouvel atelier at the Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris (2017); Peregrinate, shown in Lagos, Abidjan, Bamako and Nairobi (2015–2016); and Next Generation at the Godwin-Ternbach Museum of Queens College, New York (2015). Works by Nxumalo are in the collections of the Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva; and the Royal Portfolio
Collection, South Africa. "This focus is marked by a convergence of twin concerns that Nxumalo has been exploring over the recent years – revolving around the idea of the photographer and his medium as both author and witness. Nxumalo has been steadily developing a unique visual vocabulary that delicately balances his interest in social documentary and fine art photography. To this end, he manages to employ an astute use of the black and white ‘film’ construct in images that courageously consider and capture
the appearances and experiences of contemporary black South African youth. This results in a photographic oeuvre that oscillates between great empathetic intimacy and journalistic distance with unmissable humanity. Nxumalo’s series, The Anthology of Youth, is more than just a collection of impressions and appearances. They are a call to the viewer to look for messages, clues or opportunities that enable them to see something beyond their first assumption. These are photographs that bear witness to the mighty impulses that enabled Nxumalo to give us a closer view of life’s vital forces." - Extract from 16 Shots, solo exhibition in Johannesburg (2017).

Percy Mabandu