We pay homage to the many ancestors and living ones who came before us, those who planted the seed and made it possible for us to dream differently. They assured us that our dreams are valid and worthy of being pursued. They cultivated and natured our gifts so that we too can say, better tomorrows are possible regardless of the horrid past we come from.

As a good madam would, for years, you gave the women in my family clothes which you no longer wanted; skirts, dresses, pants, shirts, bras, and your panties. It is almost as if you knew that I existed. I say this because, of course you knew that the tiny diamanté string thong, held together by a miniscule butterfly was too small for my aunt, whose full, wide hips bore testament to the many generations she birthed and raised.

Probably, since the beginning of Makhathini’s solo career in 2014, his work of eight album releases has been explicit about its learnings, searching’s and connectedness to what he often refers to as ‘the ancestral realms’.

I carry the burden of the broad based joke that has only Rupert, thuma mina and Motsepe laughing. I lift the eternal aim of bereted bullets dismembering mabhush, I lift the jealous curses zaboDlamini khohlakele, the mpimpi accusations, the spells zenyoka yomlilo, the xenophobic death treats ngeneklace, the tuberculosis spits, Matansa I dig this this continent."

“Koloane was not only an important figure in South Africa’s visual art landscape but was also a critical voice that has shaped its contemporary moment. With over five decades working in the visual art space, Koloane has had an illustrious artistic career that has cemented him as an influential figure in visual art and legendary in the role he played in creating space for Black artists,” says Dr Same Mdluli, Standard Bank Gallery Manager.

To be taken from one place to another in rapid succession. Displaced again. And again. And again. What is lost in – to borrow from Bavino Bachana – ‘the spaces between?’ Does the reaper keep a tally of the multitude of bodies that line the pathway paved with good intentions? Does a mother’s cry become the reaper’s lullaby in this (seemingly) post-apocalyptic version of reality?

Ukugrumba, also, examines haunted places that bear memories of a violent past. The work interrogates conversations of the struggle and details testimonies of untold stories of former liberation soldiers and their families. The work revisits the past to shed light on the reality of the trauma that apartheid caused.

Reflecting on her silver anniversary and hit album Sex & Cigarettes, Toni Braxton says she’s still in love with music and the possibilities it affords. “There have been moments when I felt defeated; felt I let myself down,” she says.