Southern Guild returns to the 10th annual Investec Cape Town Art Fair (ICTAF) with a multi-disciplinary exhibition featuring leading artists from the gallery’s expanding programme. The richly crafted presentation marks a series of important developments for Southern Guild over the past year, as it has broadened its outreach to artists across the African continent, placed work in leading institutional and private collections, secured partnerships with international platforms and galleries, and established an artist residency programme.

The gallery will showcase, among other things, new works by foremost South African ceramicists Andile Dyalvane, Zizipho Poswa and Madoda Fani; an intricate wall-hung sculpture by Congolese artist Patrick Bongoy; and a specially commissioned hand-painted server by Johannesburg duo, Dokter and Misses. Southern Guild will also debut a collection of assemblage sculptures by Nigerian-Canadian artist Oluseye, and large-scale works by Iranian-South African Kamyar Bineshtarigh and South African Manyaku Mashilo.

The exhibition draws its narrative power from the transcendental tracing of intimate and collective histories spanning the continent. Poswa’s monumental ceramic and bronze sculpture from her most recent solo, uBuhle boKhokho (The Beauty of Our Ancestors), is inspired by the traditional African hairstyles worn by Black women, while Dyalvane’s zoomorphic earthenware forms emanate from his close connection to the land and study of nature. Both artists have had works acquired by leading museums in the US over the past two years (including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pérez Art Museum Miami and Denver Art Museum) and have a number of upcoming international engagements, including a residency for Poswa in the US at the highly respected Centre for Contemporary Ceramics at California State University in Long Beach (CSULB), and Dyalvane’s participation in a group shows, Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth, at Chatsworth House (UK) and the Tel Aviv Biennale of Crafts & Design (Israel), both opening in March 2023.

Southern Guild’s booth will showcase a wall-hung installation by Toronto-based artist Oluseye, marking his first time exhibiting in South Africa. The works form part of his ongoing Eminado series of talismans made from debris gathered on the streets of socio-politically significant ‘Black cities’ on both sides of the Atlantic. Born in London, Oluseye was brought up in Lagos before moving to Canada, where he is now based. The artist’s inclusion in Southern Guild’s art fair presentation will coincide with his participation in the GUILD Residency programme in Cape Town, during which he will explore new work in collaboration with local artisans.

The gallery now represents Cape Town-based Kamyar Bineshtarigh and will show his work for the first time at the fair. Central to the artist’s visual lexicon is the explorative use of Farsi script and calligraphy that pivots around memory and place, revealing the intricacies of transliteration. His repeated ink, pencil and bleach scripture becomes a palimpsestic visual pilgrimage toward and beneath the linguistic power of written language.

Also making her debut with Southern Guild will be Limpopo-born artist Mashilo, with a series of mixed-media, multi-panelled paintings. Now based in Cape Town, Mashilo’s paintings, drawings and collage works address themes of spiritual identity, memory, ancestry, community and belonging. The surreal tableaux vivants visualise the transgenerational connection between the artist, her ancestors, and the present moment.

Southern Guild’s booth will also feature a number of specially commissioned works by Capetonian artists Jozua Gerrard, Galia Gluckman, Conrad Hicks, Adam Birch, Martine Jackson, and Trevor Potter; Joburg-based artists Nandipha Mntambo and Navel Seakamela; and Cheick Diallo from Mali.