We are excited to partner with the Toffee Gallery in Darling (Western Cape) to present a solo exhibition by Peter Mammes this festive season.
This exhibition opens on Saturday 9 December 2017 at 11:30 and will be on display until 21 January 2018.
Peter Mammes investigates contemporary, post-colonial narratives through the beautiful, intricate patterning which his work is known for. These narratives hold arb, grotesque and uncomfortable subject matter, unpacking the debates and documentation of history and its narratives. Mammes says: “history is presented as simple grand narratives and those narratives shape our current political and social conceptions. Through my work I attempt to challenge those narratives.”
This interplay between the beautiful patterning and harsh historical imagery beguiles the viewer and questions the truthfulness around documentation whilst attempting to unveil myths that are often layered within history. “We believe in these generated myths and those myths inform our ideas of good and evil. Historical narrative is, thus, constructed in a very particular way to bene t the current status quo and written in a manner that makes this narrative almost impossible to question” explains the artist. Using images as placeholders for ideas; each image in Mammes’s body of work represents a spectrum of concepts that mirrors reality’s nuanced and varied states. The artist sources imagery from museums, history books and his own travels and often focusses on portraits of (perceived) pivotal historical figures. “My work does not concern itself with final statements but rather with a process of continual questioning” says Mammes.
Mammes explores pattern making in various formats; murals, silver plates, prints on found objects and has now expanded his oeuvre through the exploration of three-dimensional sculptural forms.
