Yolanda Mazwana -
BARE

07.12.23 – 15.12.23
Solo Exhibition at
Kalashnikovv Gallery,
Johannesburg

EXHIBITION STATEMENT

Yolanda Mazwana’s work has always been a reflection of her ever-evolving artistic practice to mine deeply inwards and make meaning while resisting the urge to slide into the shadows. Always seeking to understand the human condition alongside how
a woman’s body works is what drives her expression. She has now shifted away from her earlier representations, which were widely associated with hypochondria and body dysmorphia, and has been exploring the concept of understanding the distinction between what is “real” versus what is “irrational/imagined”.

While early contextualisation may seem to embody or appeal to the darkness, her current process reveals the opposite. She says, “When I paint I don’t necessarily feel darkness. It’s a funny thing because it seems to appear in my work but my artistic process is quite the opposite. I am trying to get to the core of things so to speak which requires me to understand the dynamic between myself and my work and how it correlates.”

Mazwana’s influences, notably drawn from Tschabalala Self’s approach, are evident in her work. Inspired by Self’s depictions of black female figures and her use of mixed media to discard and assemble newer versions, Mazwana sees parallels in her own paintings. The works portray the curiosity and concerns surrounding the fragile and vulnerable aspects of being in a woman’s body and its relationship with the world.