FOR WHOM?
Event for youth and adults.
WHERE?
The online lecture will be held via Zoom, and the link is available HERE.
ACCESSIBILITY
More information: dostepnosc@ethnomuseum.pl; tel. 502 955 534 (text messages too). The number of participants is limited, so we encourage early entry.
ABOUT EVENT
The lecture will be led by Mbali Dhlamini, a multidisciplinary artist and visual researcher based in Johannesburg. Her practice engages with indigenous knowledge systems through visual, tactile, and discursive methods, often grounded in processes of unlearning and decolonial thought.
In this talk, Dhlamini will explore how indigenous knowledge can shape practice-led research in contemporary art, offering insights into language as a medium of understanding and the political power of visual storytelling.
At the „Afrotopias” exhibition, we present Dhlamini’s powerful series „Look Into”. The photographs are dominated by black and indigo, the colour of a natural dye obtained in West Africa by the prolonged boiling of the indigo plant. In creating these works, Dhlamini engaged with the collections of the National Archives of Senegal. She carefully selected colonial-era portraits of women and, through a bold act of artistic intervention, removed their bodies and the surrounding landscapes. What remains are only the textiles—their traditional garments—once muted in grayscale, now restored in vibrant, layered shades of indigo. Through the blue fabric, Dhlamini clearly demands the respect of the Black Woman.
HOST
Mbali Dhlamini (b. Johannesburg, South Africa, 1990; MA University of the Witwatersrand, 2015) is a multidisciplinary artist and visual researcher. Dhlamini performs visual, tactile and discursive investigations into current indigenous cultural practices. With a view towards decolonized practices in contemporary culture, her work is in constant conversation with her past and present visual landscapes. Working to maintain a state of unlearning and relearning, Dhlamini’s process recognises language as a medium of understanding and as a repository of knowledge. Dhlamini’s visual research considers ‘site specific discourse’ as a methodology. She has staged them in Dakar, Senegal, through the Black Rock Senegal artist residency, 2021 and the Raw Materials Company fellowship, 2017. Her current undertaking was performed in Geneva, Switzerland using archival materials from the World Council of Churches, 2021. Her work has been exhibited in art galleries and institutions locally and internationally.
