An Inner View: Turbine Art Fair 2023

Published 01 August 2023 in Blog

By Nolan Stevens

Asisebenze Art Atelier (AAA) participated in the 2023 Turbine Art Fair for the second year running when this annual showcase was hosted at Hyde Park Corner from July 27 to 30. 

In a departure from last year’s group exhibition to introduce all our artists in residence, our 2023 booth was focused solely on one artist: Fumani Walter Maluleke.

This year, there was no abstract and figurative polarisation, no sculptural versus two-dimensional experimentations and no print box offerings. Instead visitors to Booth 14 were introduced to a much more synthesised presentation of the AAA space. 

Paintings and drawings of rural landscapes would at first glance appear to be at odds with our artistic identity rooted in afro-urban aesthetics, which was cemented at the 2022 Turbine Art Fair. 

This year, art enthusiasts were treated instead to a booth showcasing entirely rural depictions of Maluleke’s Limpopo home of Giyani, painted on grass thatch mats.

These seemingly unassuming landscapes soon took on greater meaning once visitors interrogated the subject matter, as well as the artist and this author. Soon it was understood that Maluleke was posing questions of culture and tradition in a modern day environment.

Many visitors who hailed from Limpopo were drawn equally to the subject matter and the substrate of grass mat on which Maluleke paints his subjects. For many, using this substrate spoke of African-ness, culture and tradition in a metaphorical sense while also harking back to their memories of home.

You can view some of these interactions published on the Asisebenze Instagram page where we captured video clips and images from the Fair.