Cape art picks: January 28 2011

Themes of place and identity are explored in two very different exhibitions.

• Since his move from Democratic Republic of Congo to South Africa in mid-2004, Maurice Mbikayi’s innovative brand of socio-political visual art and public performance has earned him a reputation as one to watch. His new solo exhibition Notre Peau (Our Skin) investigates the effects of technology on identity and history, whilst unpacking the various ways in which the technological revolution has both positively and negatively impacted on Africa. Evocative portraits are created out of discarded technology; computer matter becomes skin as cell phones become hearts. Mbikayi’s work turns on a playful narrative reflecting in on itself. For all its up-tothe-minuteness, it becomes suddenly old-fashioned and nostalgic, refusing the old tired dialectics that so often govern discussions on Africa and technology. Notre Peau (Our Skin) runs concurrently with new exhibitions by Dale Washkansky and Neil Nieuwoudt.

  Association For Visual Arts, 35 Church Street, Cape Town. Until February 18.

• Cobus van Bosch’s new exhibition Forgotten Freedom Fighters, features a series of large-scale oil paintings that form part of an ongoing project aimed at recognising lesser-known, but important, historical figures and episodes in the southern African socio-political past. The exhibition taps into the origin of the word “Afrikaner” – initially used to refer to a person of mixed racial origin – by featuring some of the prominent captains and leaders of the Griqua, the Orlam and other mixed race and Nama groups of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Based on often rare monotone photographic documentation from libraries and other archives, the portraits zoom in on the faces of the captains, capturing their fearless and defiant gaze in rough-hewn brush strokes that echo the rugged and “untamed” semi-desert territories over which they ruled. Acclaimed author, columnist and documentary filmmaker Max du Preez opens the exhibition on January 29 at 12 pm.
  
  Johans Borman, In-Fin-Art Building, Upper Buitengracht Street, Cape Town. Until February 19.