The work in this exhibition emerges from an inward journey—an attempt to make sense of being in a world shaped by forces outside of my choosing, and at the same time being in the world as an active and present agent.
As someone marked by movement and displacement, I’ve come to see diasporic subjectivity (the awareness of an unbelonging, discomfort) not as a lack, but as an ethical stance: creative, generative, attentive, unfinished, and alert to the structures that define and confine us. At the same time, I question the power and significance of care in negotiating our way through the ecosystem that we are all part of. Through printmaking (old and new), drawings and terrariums — fragments of ink and living ecosystems — I explore how resilience takes form. Old works are presented alongside new ones, they are manipulated, reconsidered, as part of an ongoing cycle of change. (un)favourable conditions holds space for ambiguity, where growth happens not despite the conditions, but through them.
The gallery hours are 10h00 - 16h00 on weekdays and 10h00 - 13h00 on Saturdays.
Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays.
Artist Biography
Prof Vulindlela Nyoni was born in Chilimanzi, Zimbabwe in 1976 and attained a Bachelor of Arts in the Fine Arts from the then University of Natal in 1998 and a master’s in fine arts from the now University of KwaZulu-Natal. He lectures at the Nelson Mandela University's Department of Visual Arts in the Faculty of Humanities. His Doctoral thesis was entitled 'Diaspora in Dialogue: An Ontology of Diasporic Subjectivity in the Work of Three Artists Living In-Between South Africa and Zimbabwe'. Prior to joining Nelson Mandela University, he served as Senior lecturer in Printmaking at the Department of Visual Art at the University of Stellenbosch and before that he held the position of Director at the Centre for Visual Art, University of KwaZulu Natal. Apart from being a practicing artist, Nyoni also lectures in Printmaking, Drawing, and Visual Studies. His main interests lie in race, diaspora studies, gender and queer studies, the visual politics of representation, and the importance of art in change agency and transformation. Nyoni has served as a national and regional selector for the Sanlam Portrait Award, Absa Atelier and Sasol New Signatures competition, the Standard Bank National Arts Festival Artistic Committee, as well as serving on a variety of advisory boards. He has shown his own work widely on a national and international level and continues to expand his international profile as artist, educator and curator. He continues to make his own work at any opportunity he has. He is a Marvel Comics and Star Trek fanatic.
- GFI Art Gallery
- 30 Park Drive, Gqeberha
- Daily during the Festival 09:00 to 17:00
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Daily entry to the exhibitions is free. The scheduled walkabouts have a minimal cost and booking is essential.
