REVISITING: “Mapping Space” solo exhibition at Toto Gallery, Johannesburg

“Art is about a journey, an exploration of something that is new and relevant to me” say Sue Martin, a South African artist working primarily in mixed media and contemporary styled prints and paintings. This body of work layers oil paint onto translucent handmade paper into which vintage maps and archival images and plants are embedded. Martin is exhibiting her 32 pieces of painting varying in size at Toto Gallery.

AFRICA TABULA, Oil pigment on hand made paper with embedded map, 84 x 58, 

In Sue Martin’s work, we see a primary concern of movement and migration, with the impact of the so called civilization upon them, with the African workers in the fields and traders moving about, with laborers, servants and location. She maps for us, journey of migrants in their exodus quest for better life. Her work becomes a very interesting embodiment that questions ‘original citizenry’ which in this day and age does not exist. People have, over a period of time, belonged to universe rather than being confined to a geographical specificity.

There is an underlining in Martins work that, hers is a focus driven by manual labor and that as a consequence, she exemplify in her works an aesthetic of spatial relations that is deeply linked to the dynamic position of an artist who asks the viewer to become her accomplice. In the work titled “The Infinite Spark Behind” the viewer is invited into a scenario where people are gathered, not really clear but one gets a sense of togetherness and commonality that the power of the artwork straightforwardly delivers. This group of people are standing in the middle of the road, with what looks like fields on either sides of the road. What is interesting in Martin’s work is that, because the work is not realistic but has prospect of silhouettes, affording the viewer with opportunity to create his or her own visions from her visuals.

THE INFINITE SPARK/BEING, Oil pigment on hand made paper with embedded image… 168 x 116cm

Some of the paintings are deliberately interwoven through the pages of maps, mapping the narrative she is portraying into perspective.  Talking about immigration, Hillary Rodham Clinton once said; “We are a country where people of all backgrounds, all nations of origin, all languages, all races, can make a home. America was built by immigrants.” It is true that immigration create an engine of every country’s economic prosperity. This is attested by Martin’s work titled Cap De Bonne Esperance, a title that comes from a map the image formed.

TLHAPING, Oil pigment on hand made paper with embedded image… 29 x 63,cm

Martin’s Tlhaping, is ecstatic, this one is almost melancholic, with a mood of late autumn moving into winter. The earth is bare; the light fading but still there is hope. Seeds are being planted which would germinate in time. In her work there is an infinite range of possible combinations colours, just as there is an endless array of possible musical sounds. Migration as a matter of fact, is a constant search for a better life or greener pastures; it has always moved hand in hand with longing for wealth. In this case, Martin, as a matter of reminding us, she uses pictures of the Johannesburg gold mines that are no longer in use. This can be easily interpreted in ways such as empty or full ingots, sharp hint of slave and master relations – a phenomena that has built great cities such as Johannesburg and this has a greater bearing on immigration.

Serious glimpse into this body of work, one is taken back in time when gold mines where discovered and many families had pressure to leave their respective rural areas of birth in search of gold that was never intended for them. In Johannesburg at least, many men from the SADC region migrated to the city to work in the mines. Their migration has destroyed many family unit structures especially for black people and the legacy of such still lingers on after centuries.

Mapping Space offered the people of South Africa and the world a moment to reflect on the many years of hardships gone by. This solo exhibition opened on the 17^th November and will end on the 12^th December 2016.

NB: For more information on this exhibition see the online catalog:

here: http://www.suemartinfineart.co.za/portfolio/mapping-space/

Khehla Chepape Makgato is a Johannesburg-based independent artist and arts writer, regularly contributing articles to ART AFRICA and The Journalist. He works at Assemblage Studios and is the founder of Samanthole Creative Projects & Workshop, a community-based art organisation focusing on arts and literacy youth programmes. Chepape is the ImpACT Award WINNER for Visual Arts 2016 from the Arts and Culture Trust of South Africa and THE MAPUNGUBWE VISUAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2016.