Artist Focus: Vanesa Tembane and Ayobola Kekere-Ekun
The works in The Myth of Sisyphus reflect on effort, repetition and emotional labour. Inspired by the myth of Sisyphus as retold by Camus, the exhibition centres on women who keep going, even when the path is unclear.
Vanesa Tembane and Ayobola Kekere-Ekun bring two distinct but connected approaches to this idea. Both artists look at identity, history and the tension between what is seen and what is withheld.
Vanesa Tembane | Shadow Kin series
Tembane’s Shadow Kin collages explore cultural displacement and memory. Born in South Africa to a Mozambican mother, she was raised speaking isiZulu to help her blend in. This decision shaped her early experience of identity and belonging.
Her collages create figures that exist between places. These avatars reflect an imagined childhood shaped by stories of Mozambique and the gaps left by migration. Each work is a quiet return to unresolved questions about origin, family and home.
The repetition in her practice reflects a need to stay connected to something that was interrupted. Her work does not offer resolution. It stays in the space between, holding the feeling of persistence.
Ayobola Kekere-Ekun |
The Real Housewives of Old Oyó
Kekere-Ekun draws from Yorùbá cosmology to explore how women are remembered in myth. While male deities are framed as powerful and heroic, female deities are often reduced to petty or domestic roles. This imbalance reflects how culture tends to frame women in general.
In her series The Real Housewives of Old Oyó, Kekere-Ekun reimagines goddesses as reality TV figures. The works are bold and detailed, made from layers of hand-cut paper strips. This technique adds physical weight to the themes she explores.
The featured works focus on Ajah, guardian of forests and herbal medicine. Ajah is known for her secrecy. She appears only to those who surrender to the forest and become truly lost. This idea of slow, uncertain seeking connects to the exhibition’s core. It speaks to the kind of effort that is often unseen but deeply felt.
The Myth of Sisyphus runs until end of August at Lizamore at Firestation
16 Baker Street, Rosebank
Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm