Winner of the StateoftheART Gallery Award 2019, up and coming Johannesburg-based visual creative Balekane is particularly interested in the interdependent relationships between humanity and the natural world, and the parallel experiences that characterise both.
During her recent residency at 50ty/50ty – Involving five days of hard work, sharing ideas and skills, and serendipitous moments and encounters – Balekane somehow worked in two time frames at once: marking particular moments in human stories and simultaneously speaking to a much deeper, ancient sense of time.
The 50ty/50ty screen print ‘Diagrams of the beginning’ exemplifies this approach; it’s a beautiful marker of that week in the studio – and alludes to two happenings in particular. One was the announcement of the 2024 Underwater Photographer of the Year winners, where the chosen images were both exquisite and sobering in their depictions of the human impact on the ethereal beauty of the ocean.
At the same time, they were rediscovering the visual essay The Moon as Shoe, a compilation of 19th century San drawings, fascinating artworks infused with ambiguous meaning, resonant both of Legoabe’s thematic intentions and visual language, which takes many of its cues from ancient rock art.
Immersed within these contexts, Legoabe created numerous gestural ink drawings of creatures and forms, which were then cut up and rearranged into a new composition. This composite image was then applied to three different screens at three different exposures, each then printed as different opacity of red ochre, resulting in this poetic overlap of earth, ocean and the inevitable mark of man.
Balekane drew inspiration from not just ancient rock art, but also language and ritual – and a variety of cultural mythologies, philosophies and religious systems – to explore the relationships between nature, spirituality and identity, and the ways in which human experience and nature’s processes mirror one another, from seasons and cycles to growth, death and resilience.
“These phenomena are markers of the human experience,” she explains, “and we also see them, in one way or another, affect plants, animals, the elements and the cosmos.”
Drawn to the magical stretch of ocean and land between the Orange River and Cape Columbine – the South African West Coast – and in particular its mythical and historical connection to the indigenous San peoples, as well as the threat illegal mining poses to its fragile natural and cultural heritage – Balekane and 50ty50ty Studio decided to pledge almost one third of the proceeds from this series of prints in support of PTWC.
“In collaboration with Protect the West Coast, we’re marking the release of Balekane’s limited edition screen print with a special initiative,” says 50ty50ty’s Jeanne Legrand. “30% of proceeds from each sale will be donated to the conservation NGO’s important cause. Their vision resonates with Legoabe’s themes – and with this artwork in particular – so the partnership just makes sense.”
Each of the 30 limited-edition prints costs R5,750 and is available from the 50ty50ty online store.
- Hand-pulled screen print on BFK Rives 250gsm
- Paper size: 760x560mm
- Limited edition of 30
- Numbered and signed by the artist
- Hand-printed in South Africa (2024)
- Please note all prints are sold unframed
About 50ty50ty Studio
50ty/50ty is an online collection of limited-edition screen prints, created in collaboration with local artists, illustrators and designers. Representing the best of both established and emerging talent, each work is hand printed on archival paper and available for purchase exclusively on their online platform:
https://www.50ty50typrints.com
https://www.instagram.com/50ty50typrints
About Balekane Legoabe
Since winning the StateoftheART Gallery Award 2019, Balekane Legoabe (b.1995) has participated in several group exhibitions and art fairs in South Africa and Germany, and has work held in collections including Hamburg’s Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (Germany). In parallel to her art practice, Legoabe works as a curator, art teacher and reiki practitioner.
https://balelegoabe7.myportfolio.com
https://www.instagram.com/bale__kane
