Dineo Seshee Bopape's First Italian Retrospective Opens at HangarBicocca
Dineo Seshee Bopape's first-ever retrospective in Italy, named 'Born in the first light of the morning [moswara’marapo],' has just opened at Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan. The show features installations that incorporate natural materials like clay, sand, charcoal, and water, delving into themes of memory, colonialism, and the African diaspora. Standout works include 'Lerole: footnotes (The struggle of memory against forgetting),' made with bricks and hand-molded clay fists, and a video piece titled 'Ierata laka le a phela le a phela le a phela,' showcasing ocean views from various regions. Another installation, 'Mothabeng,' merges sounds from a marble quarry with visual projections. Bopape, born in Polokwane in 1981, has a rich academic background and has participated in several artist residencies.
Key facts
- Dineo Seshee Bopape's first Italian retrospective at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan.
- Exhibition title: 'Born in the first light of the morning [moswara’marapo].'
- Installation 'Lerole: footnotes' includes bricks, ceramics, sand, herbs, and turntables.
- Work 'Ierato laka le a phela' features ocean footage from Solomon Islands, Jamaica, West Africa, and Mississippi.
- 'Mothabeng' uses marble quarry audio recordings and a clay-and-pigment screen.
- References to James Baldwin and Robert Sobukwe in the exhibition.
- Bopape born in Polokwane, 1981; studied at Durban Institute of Technology, De Ateliers Amsterdam, Columbia University.
- Residencies include the Tuscan Apennines.
Entities
Artists
- Dineo Seshee Bopape
Institutions
- Pirelli HangarBicocca
- Durban Institute of Technology
- De Ateliers
- Columbia University
Locations
- Milan
- Italy
- Polokwane
- South Africa
- Johannesburg
- Amsterdam
- Netherlands
- New York
- United States
- Solomon Islands
- Jamaica
- West Africa
- Mississippi
- Tuscan Apennines
- Robben Island