Hoek Swaratlhe

Palimpsest  

   pal·imp·sest 

   [ˈpalɪm(p)sɛst] 

noun 

a manuscript or piece of writing material on which later writing has been superimposed on effaced earlier writing. 

something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form: 

In the series Swaratlhe studies evolving landscapes and spotlights the social inequities endured by indigenous people of South Africa as exhibited by the racial disparities between living quarters designed for European and Non-European South Africans.

Swaratlhe’s photographic works capture fleeting moments of tranquillity within urban communities while shedding light on the socio-political struggles they face. Recently, he has turned his lens towards the NE 51 houses (Non-European houses of 1951) in Soweto, otherwise known as “matchbox houses,” which were the result of segregation embedded research conducted by the National Building Research Institute between 1948 and 1951.

Soweto stands at the epicentre of Swaratlhe’s works, not only for its notable connotations as the country’s largest black urban complex due to redlining, but also as it links to the artist’s own upbringing.

“Growing up in a 4-roomed house I have experienced [first-hand] black life and how 4-roomed houses played a role in history… as such I’ve recently found myself cycling around the township as a ‘flâneur’ (a French term used by nineteenth-century French poet Charles Baudelaire to identify an observer of modern urban life). I saw [more and more] people renovating their 4 roomed houses so I developed research on township architecture using pseudo-scientific deadpan photography as my practice. In conjunction with that I also outsourced some information from Douglas Calderwood’s thesis about NE51”, Swaratlhe reflects. 

Ndofaya (2024)

Multimedia (object printing, pronto lithography) on Somerset Soft White 300 gsm

Unique Work

 53.3 x 36.9 cm

R 9 000 VAT Incl. Unframed

Mkonti (2024)

Multimedia (object printing, pronto lithography) on Somerset Soft White 300 gsm

Unique Work

 53.3 x 36.9 cm

R 9 000 VAT Incl. Unframed

Umuzi (2024)

Multimedia (object printing, pronto lithography with collage) on Somerset Newsprint Grey 300 gsm, Tosa Washi

Unique Work

 17 x 53 cm

R 6 000 VAT Incl. Unframed

 

 

Zozajem (2024)

Unique Work

 56.3 x 43 cm

R8 000 VAT Incl. Unframed

Swaratlhe has worked with Basement in the Arts, a Soweto based magazine in 2014 and from 2015-2016 he was a resident in the Kopanong Art Studio Residency Programme at the Pretoria Arts Museum. In 2018 he enrolled in the Market Photo Workshop’s Advanced Programme in Photography. In 2022 he was selected to be part of the FUJIFILM showcase “Take Ten” in commemoration of ten years since the launch of their first X mount camera. In that same year he became one of two recipients of the Media and Advocacy Photography Mentorship through which he produced his first solo exhibition “4Dladla” which loosely translates as “for home”. In 2023 began working under Mary Sibande and Lawrence Lemaoana as part of a travelling and evolving exhibition title “Occupying the Gallery”. The exhibition sees its participating artists incubating and collaborating with different print workshops and showing with various galleries, so far the list of galleries and printoshops include, LL Editions, Artist Proof Studios, Danger Gevaar Ingozi Studio, Gallery 1 Keyes Art Mile, SMAC Gallery, Johannesburg. In 2024 he participated in “Bazobuya” a group exhibition curated by Lawrence Lemaoana and exhibited at the KZNSA Gallery. Hoek has also recently been awarded the 1st prize in the 3rd annual uMsizi noPende Visual Art Project.  

Kwa Mkhulu (2024)

Multimedia (object printing, pronto lithography, collage) on Somerset Newsprint Grey 300 gsm, Tosa Washi

Unique Work

 43.2 x 32.7 cm

R 7 500 VAT Incl. Unframed

Kamera (2024)

Multimedia (object printing, pronto lithography, monotype, collage) on Somerset Newsprint Grey 300 gsm, Tosa Washi

Unique Work

 39.8 x 30.7 cm

R 7 500 VAT Incl. Framed

Sotra (2024)

Multimedia (object printing, pronto lithography, collage) on Somerset Soft White 300 gsm, Tosa Washi

Unique Work

 36.6 x 35.2 cm

R 9 000 VAT Incl. Framed

Lihlo Lami (2024)

Multimedia (object printing, pronto lithography, collage) on Somerset Newsprint Grey 300 gsm

Unique Work

 38.4 x 28.2 cm

R 9 000 VAT Incl. Framed

Khenza City (2024)

Multimedia (pronto lithography, collage) on Somerset Soft White 300 gsm, Tosa Washi

Unique Work

 41.2 x 59.5 cm

 SOLD

Mam Mphela (2024)

Multimedia (pronto lithography, collage) on Somerset Newsprint Grey 300 gsm, Tosa Washi 300 gsm

Unique Work

 28.7 x 26.2 cm

R 4 000 VAT Incl. Framed

Printmaking Through the Lens of Photography with Hoek Swaratlhe

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