Transkei V

Transatlantic Hemispheres

An exhibition with a 7794 mile journey from Cape Town to North Adams. The artists taking part in the exhibition are all currently working in Cape Town, South Africa. At various stages in their career, this will be the first time they will be exhibiting in the US. The artist’s work in different techniques and mediums. Their artworks deal with Identity, migration, land, heritage, and language. Their artworks depict the current social and political climate in South Africa that represent their own unique experiences. With the new artworks we can start a conversation about what art can be in a post pandemic world.

Songezo Zantsi (b. 1991) is a Cape town born and based multidisciplinary mixed media contemporary artist. The intention of the artworks is to raise questions, open discussions and provide answers. The question raised by this exhibition is about African culture and its traditions. How colonization has destroyed our traditional practices and let us misinterpret and be misinformed about our own identity, letting us glorify and assimilate to their ways.Zantsi critiques the use of Western elements in traditional ceremonies, throwing into relief questions about where and how culture and traditions are formed.