Press Release For Kgomotso Neto's Exhibition Of Views
For immediate release, June 2018
July First Thursdays
Cape Town
Umuzi PRESENTS:
AN II OTHER - An Exhibition Of View by Kgomotso Neto
Drawing inspiration from his own background and environment, Photographer Kgomotso Neto Tleane is back with two exhibitions in Cape Town in July. Part one of the collection was on show in Braamfontein on the 5th of April 2018. This work earned him an invitation to the 2018 New York Portfolio Review in April. It hosted photographers from around the world who had their work reviewed by a panel made up of the industry’s powerhouse publications, editors and experts.
Kgomotso is back from New York and is taking the first exhibition to a new location in the Mother City. Umuzi will be exhibiting Kgomotso’s work at two venues in Cape Town for the July edition of First Thursdays: Clarke’s Bar and Dining Room, as well as Young Blood gallery. These two venues are conveniently located on the same (Bree) street which allows visitors the opportunity to visit both on the same night.
Young Blood will include Kgomotso’s South African images, the work that gave him the global opportunity. Clarke’s will host his New York work, the images he shot during his stay there. The intention is to create a narrative that links two venues in Bree Street, allowing the viewer to experience one photographer’s perspective of two very different environments. Adding another dimension is the fact that Kgomotso shot his New York work with an analogue camera, while all his South African work is shot with digital.
Neto’s South african work makes us aware of our ignorance. From a privileged perspective there are many dimensions of South Africa that many of us don’t experience. We interact with them on a surface level, artificially engaging with people and places we don’t understand. Be it the taxi driver, the recycling skaters or the construction worker, we have our preexisting visions that block any true representation. Very often the media contribute to these stereotypes by focussing on negative associations and so these naive images persist on our screens and in our minds.
Neto’s work challenges these stereotypes on two levels. His style is classic and strong, an aesthetic that the west is familiar with. By linking this aesthetic with an unfamiliar subject, Neto invites us to reconsider our views. Secondly, he frames his subjects in powerful and uplifting compositions, giving us an opportunity to challenge our relationships with others. This positioning also confronts some of his subjects to reconsider their self-image and the spaces they inhabit. Neto’s passion for storytelling therefore changes people and spaces by presenting them in a new light.
EVENT DETAILS
Location: Part 1: Young Blood gallery
Part 2: Clarke’s Bar and Dining Room
Time: 18:00 - 21:00
Date: 5 July 2018
For media enquiries please contact Odi Esterhuyse < odi.esterhuyse@umuzi.org
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