The approximate English translation for the Xhosa word ‘ixesha’ is time. By titling his third solo exhibition with Goodman Gallery, iXesha!, Jabulani Dhlamini offers a lens for considering this elusive concept through his photography, which expands on the notion of time in various ways.
This early-career survey brings together recent bodies of work in which Dhlamini explores the concept of a collective national memory in light of South Africa’s traumatic history.
iQhawekazi (2018), a key series on this exhibition, responds to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s recent death. This moving series was first published in the Financial Times for the ‘Millennials’ edition in April 2018. Among the nine photographers selected for this issue, Dhlamini was the only featured artist from the African continent. In this special edition, he is named as ‘one of the best young photographic talents around the world’.
Another key series in iXesha! is, Recaptured (2016), in which Dhlamini explores the interaction between personal and collective memory within the context of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre. From 2013 to 2016, Dhlamini spent time with South Africans who experienced the trauma of the massacre, seeking to create a visual representation of social memory by photographing objects which triggered individual recollections of that historic day.
Dhlamini’s characteristically subtle approach to capturing South Africa’s fraught past and present positions him within a specific trajectory of South African photography, initially carved out by the late David Goldblatt. In recognition of a shared sensibility, Dhlamini was selected by Goldblatt to feature alongside three other young local photographers for Five Photographers, A Tribute to David Goldblatt at the French Institute in Johannesburg earlier this year.
For Dhlamini, iXesha! represents an important moment, ‘bringing together various bodies of work that document the present in different contexts, as I lay down a foundation for navigating the future’.
Artworks
Create a Goodman Gallery account to view pricing of available artworks and access purchasing.
According to curator Teboho Ralesai, Dhlamini’s subtlety in vision stems from the fact that he sees the self as equally important to the collective: ‘This translates into shooting quiet moments and symbolic objects, often pointing away from the action, which can, in turn, resonate very powerfully with a sense of collective feeling and memory.’
Artist Bio
Jabulani Dhlamini (b. 1983, Warden, South Africa) is a documentary photographer whose practice reflects on his upbringing in the post-apartheid era alongside the experiences of local South African communities. Dhlamini’s meditative approach to photography encourages a closer look at what lies on the edges through an exploration of personal and collective memory.
Dhlamini’s most celebrated bodies of work have focused on key moments in South African history, such as 'Recaptured' which looks at cross-generational recollections of the Sharpeville Massacre, 'Isisekelo' which documents the familial impact of land dispossession, and 'iQhawekazi,' which mapped the shifting legacy of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela at the time of her death in 2018.
Solo exhibitions include: 'Casa/iKhaya Lami,' Mitre Gallery, Brazil (2023); 'Isisekelo,' Goodman Gallery Johannesburg (2019); 'Recaptured,' Goodman Gallery Cape Town (2016); 'uMama,' Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg (2012).
Group exhibitions include: 'Inganekwane,' North West University Gallery, South Africa (2022); 'iHubo – Whispers,' PhotoSaintGermain festival, France (2022); 'Side to Side Johannesburg,' La Permanence Photographique, France (2022); 'A Different Now is Close Enough to Exhale on You,' Umhlabathi Collective Gallery, South Africa (2022); 'Five Photographers. A tribute to David Goldblatt,' Gerard Sekoto Gallery, French Institute of South Africa and the Alliance Française of Johannesburg.
Dhlamini is an alumni fellow of the Edward Ruiz Mentorship programme and the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg.
Dhlamini lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.
