A COLLECTION - TO A DEGREE

Jean-Claude Nsabimana, Rory Emmett, Nobukho Nqaba and Ulriche Jantjes

Main Gallery: 06.03.25 - 16.04.25

A Collection to a Degree is a group presentation by Jean-Claude Nsabimana, Rory Emmett, Nobukho Nqaba and Ulriche Jantjes. The exhibition features a selection of work submitted as part of their individual Masters in Fine Art degrees completed in 2022 and 2023. Thematically, the artists explored ideas of identity, home, migration, and marginalised histories. This group exhibition showcases their personal reflections in a range of media including video works, photography, mixed media paintings and installation components.

Ulriche's mixed media paintings in lime wash, straw, and ink on canvas are large scale and tactile. These works, alongside Rory's video and installation that features a cabinet filled with abstracted Delft crockery, and reclaimed trade-painter's Hessian drop sheets, comment on their personal history and identity. In conversation with these works, Nobukho's photographs and installation of blue overalls reflect on her childhood memories growing up in a marginalised community in Grabouw, a town located in the Elgin Valley in the Western Cape. Jean-Claude, on the other hand, comments on migration and the socio-political climate by exploring the extraction and exploitation of minerals in Africa and its impact on the environment and lives on the continent. This exhibition contextualises contemporary issues by reflection on our personal histories, cultural heritage and lived experiences. 

The exhibition title A Collection to a Degree engages the variety of themes and artworks included in this show. The title probes the notion of a collection of fragments from well researched, individual bodies of work. These projects, all created toward a specific end, are now being reimagined and contextualised in a new group exhibition. 

This exhibition was made possible thanks to the support by the National Arts Culture.