Have you ever wondered about the journey behind a piece of art? What was the artist thinking, or perhaps wasn’t thinking about at all? To indulge your curiosity, Cape Town’s most popular gallery, the Zeits MOCCA is inviting you to get psychological. A peak behind the brush, so to speak.
The artist who will be letting us into her world is the multi-disciplinary Thania Petersen. She’ll be setting up residency from Thursday May 27 to Sunday October 17.
Her exhibition is called KASSARM.
Meaning a “big mess, out of place or upside down,” KASSARAM is taken from the title of Petersen’s most recent art film, which analyses strategies used in creating and perpetuating cultural divides amongst people of colour through art – from colonialism to the present.
“It challenges and expands the traditional role of the art museum by bringing modes of creation and making, working and thinking, into the public sphere in a way that is immediate and unfiltered,” says Koyo Kouoh, Executive Director and Chief Curator at the Zeits MOCCA.
Peterson herself is a perfect fit for the space. She is an open artistic book. Through her work, she wishes to reveal stories about her family and culture, exposing the narrative of the Creolised community.
“The creolized community of the Cape are no longer the lost children of this land.. we carry the oceans and land in our blood. I want everyone to know who we are.”
Peterson explains that through her new space she will express her stories by unpacking contemporary trends of Islamophobia. She will challenge Western narratives and proudly express her perspective of her culture and religion.
“I feel art is what makes us human, it is what sets us apart from everything else on Earth. We love through art, we yearn through art, we worship through art,” says Peterson.
The residency follows the success of previous artists, Kemang Lehulere and Haroon Gunn-Salie.
Picture: Supplied