Mosa Anita Kaiser Explores Body as Archive in Johannesburg Exhibition

South African artist Mosa Anita Kaiser's exhibition 'Residues of Proximity: One Body, Many Parts' ran from 18 June to 9 July 2026 at the KingKong Building in Troyeville, Johannesburg. Curated by Melusi Masike and developed through the Bag Factory Artists' Studios' Young/Unframed 2026 programme, the show combined painting, sculpture, photography, and printmaking. Kaiser uses mannequins as a central motif to explore the body as a living archive of memory, violence, and care. The exhibition introduced the concept of 'internal exile'—a condition of cultural disjuncture and fractured belonging. A key installation, 'mannequin graveyard', featured dismembered mannequin parts on dirt, symbolizing fragmentation. Kaiser's alter ego 'The Handler' collects discarded mannequin pieces and recontextualizes them. The exhibition recreated a domestic space where mannequins become characters. Kaiser's practice moves across mediums, starting with the idea before choosing the form. She views repair as an ongoing negotiation, where scars become part of wholeness. The collaboration with Masike involved 'apprenticeship' and 'form', with Masike considering materiality as performative language and creating distance between bodies and spaces. The exhibition refused the body as spectacle, presenting it as a repository of desire, grief, resilience, and hope.