Mummy Khumalo - Learning About Ourselves:
Back to Water

10.06.23 - 24.06.23
Solo Exhibition at
Kalashnikovv Gallery,
Johannesburg

Exhibition Statement

Interested in how the mind, body and what lies beyond exist together in the world, Mummy Khumalo examines the dual reality of our spiritual awareness and our physical actuality using vividly coloured acrylic paint and collage on canvas. “I have created these hybrid human-amphibious beings, which exist in the realm between dreams and visions. I’ve used a pattern that flows like water to depict the relationship between the woman and the womb, who are creatures of birth and doors to Earth. I use the female figure as the subject of my work, to explore questions of social issues connected to gender, culture, tradition, religion, and equality, which are all influenced by the cycle of life both in the physical and spiritual world.”

With technology and capitalism so pervasive in today’s world, Khumalo raises questions about whether there is a space for our souls or even the practice of ubuntu and the impact of that vacuum on black people in particular.

Born in Sebokeng in 1988, Khumalo enrolled at Artist Proof Studios for professional printmaking and worked in animation at the Tshimologong Precinct in Braamfontein in 2022. Since studying printmaking, she has had her work featured in group exhibitions that include FNB Art Joburg (2019), ‘Resist’ at Strauss & Co in collaboration with Artist Proof Studios, Johannesburg (2019), ‘A Cloud’ at Studio Nxumalo and Gallery 2, Johannesburg (2021), and ‘In Conversation’ at Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town (2021). “Learning About Ourselves - Back To Water” is her first solo exhibition.