My current art project titled MUSEUM continues my exploration of the role of museums and the nature of collections and collecting begun in previous projects such as Put Something in to Get Something Out (2007) and Offerings (2008). The idea to create a museum emerged from the conclusion I arrived at in my 2021 book chapter ‘Confronting the Museum’, in which I critically reflected on the successes and failures of my previous portable museum projects. While reflecting on my previous attempts to create alternative, anti-museums that challenge hegemonic structures, I realized that despite my anti-museums being different in terms of structure and exhibition practices, they remain ‘museums’ and therefore cannot properly challenge museum hegemony. I concluded that since the concept of museum is so powerful, and yet comes with a lot of problematic baggage, it is necessary to indicate my critical position by writing the word under erasure. To write under erasure is a concept developed by Derrida as means to indicate that a word/concept is problematic but does not yet have an adequate replacement concept in theory. I created the MUSEUM to disrupt the hegemonic concept of the museum through experimenting with fictional collections and disrupting ways of displaying these collections. The project is on-going and includes collaboration with other artists. For more information click on artworks.

My artistic practice informs my current written research on theorising modern and contemporary African art that challenges the inherited conventions of the institutions of art in diverse ways. The artists I focus on constitute an African avant-garde to use modernist terminology. I investigate the continuities and ruptures between African and Western art practices and discourses of art. I question what an appropriate way to approach interpretation and writing about African art that is relevant to our current socio-political context might be. I explore a range of theoretical frameworks including philosophies of art, anthropology, sociology and phenomenology to investigate the process of interpretation and ways of writing arts' histories. For more information click on writing.

My interest in how to make, theorize, interpret and write about African art extends to my work in the fields of  curating and teaching. When curating, I intentionally select works by African women and that have not been exhibited previously when possible, as part of a conscious decision to diversify exhibiting practices. I bring my artist-scholar hats to the process and explore ways of challenging the field of exhibition, for example by covering vitrines, and playing with lighting. Making visible extant, and diverse “encounters” with art in the museum, as well as creating opportunities for new encounters, through the public programming, events, and collaborating across disciplines, and higher education institutions, are important parts of the curatorial project for me. For more information click on curating. Through experimenting with social constructivist, practice-based learning methods in higher education, and developing education materials that enable engagements with art for learners of all levels, I explore ways of looking at art, experiential learning, and the role of the museum in education. For more information click on teaching.

View more projects at www.tripproject.co.za and www.soundartjourneys.co.za