Q & A with Justice Mukheli

BKHZ: What is your relationship with your selected artworks - what inspired their creation?

JM: It varies to be honest. I think I can start with my self-portrait titled “Mukheli” which is my surname. I created this work back in 2017 and I was faced with very hard challenges regarding my personal life journey, my career, and the decisions I had to make at that time [which] was so hard. My path, or my journey to my life and career was uncertain and I was feeling vulnerable and scared. You’ll see that there are 2 pieces in this exhibition that speak to that and they show light. The light for me was a resemblance of looking towards all of my experiences, looking towards all the people that have been there for me throughout my journey - directly and indirectly, and hoping that all of that will carry me through all the hard times I was about to face. 

The piece titled “You have to See Us” was also created in 2017 because the ongoing theme in my work, or the base idea in my work is dismantling the idea of what Africa is to the rest of the world, dismantling the idea of blackness and the blackbody, dismantling these stereotypes. So I created these works almost from an eye of exoticizing but my eye was humanising these black figures and seeing them for what they are rather than celebrating a type of body that is seen as glorious because it is seen as African. 

The last 2 pieces: one called “Black Love”, the other one called “Love”, were created because I was, again dismantling the idea of what the world expects us to be. I was thinking to myself “what does black love look like or what would it look like if it wasn’t tainted by colonialism or if it wasn’t tainted by society’s expectations of how we should love”. You’ll see the one portrait has 2 guys standing next to each other and it’s very intimate. You can almost see the back of the guy looking towards the other guy that maybe it’s a bit feminine or soft but it’s so beautiful to see love without the predetermined notions of how we should love as black people. 

BKHZ: This is the 1st time BKhz’s audience won’t be able to experience purely physical exhibition. Naturally, this will hinder the viewer’s ability to clearly determine a works scale, colour, brushstroke detail etc - how do you hope people will begin to engage with your work from a virtual aspect?

JM: I think the world and Africa is ready to find new ways to engage and interact with art. I don’t think it won’t hinder it in any way. I just think people need to be more forward thinking about these new ways of presenting works. These new tools that have been created for us like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, are tools that are accessible to us in a way that we are able to view and experience the work and engage with the work without having to go into these institutions that are sometimes not as welcoming to others as we think. As an audience and as a people we need to be forward thinking in how work should be presented going forward.

BKHZ: When creating, is there a particular person you imagine yourself to be speaking to? 

JM: I honestly don’t think that far. My creation process is too internal so much so that I am in a tunnel where I have no room to think of other people because my creation process is basically unpacking emotions that I’m either feeling or have felt and I’m trying to capture how that feeling was. When I’m thinking about all those feelings and trying to recreate that or capture that, it’s hard to be thinking of another person. I pour a lot of emotions into the work I create making it quite internal. I don’t recall thinking of someone of types of people or how someone will receive my work. It’s mainly how will it make me feel: would I create it [the image] and perfectly capture how I was feeling. 

BKHZ: What are you looking forward to the most with having a dual exhibition with Heidi?

JM: For me the interesting thing is how the works will feel next to each other and the emotions in Heidi’s work relative to mine and how the pieces will balance each other out. I’ve never done a show like this so it’s quite interesting. I quite like her style of painting - I think her work is emotionally dense and complex in a way I like because my work carries a similar feel.

Q & A with Heidi Fourie

BKHZ: What is your relationship to your selected artworks – what inspired their creation?

HF: These works, which have been selected from amongst existing pieces in my archive, were created over a period of time. Thus, when I look at them together, the evolution of my work becomes evident, as if time has been compressed to illuminate a few highlights.

These works are all quite personal. Coincidentally, Bkhz chose most of the very few works that I am comfortable with hanging in my own home. They reflect fleeting moments of peace and carelessness eg. my partner, Allen, blissfully sleeping or amongst glimmering foliage, Coney Island fireworks, a child, perhaps myself, sleeping in a tree or a gently swaying curtain. The creation of the abstract work was very meditative. I had no blueprint when I started but rather let the marks dictate subsequent marks. My only intention for this particular piece was to recreate the sensation of being in a dense green forest.

BKHZ: This is the first time Bkhz’s audience won’t be able to experience a purely physical exhibition. Naturally this will hinder the viewer’s ability to clearly determine a work’s scale, colour, brushstroke detail etc – how do you hope people will begin to engage with your work from a virtual aspect?

HF: I have great faith in Bkhz to create an experience very similar to being in a gallery, teleporting the viewers into the space and focusing their attention on the necessary details.

Something interesting also happens when a painting’s scale shifts. When zooming in, a small flick of the wrist becomes a swing of an arm, a tiny drip of paint becomes a wash. When zooming out, brushstrokes merge. It adds to the mystery of how it was created.

This strange unique time where we rely on virtual experiences to help us escape the confines of our living rooms proves more than ever that we do not necessarily have to physically be in a space to be there; that presence and community can transcend great distances. However, we might just appreciate physical presence and closeness more than ever after this.

BKHZ: When creating, is there a particular person you imagine yourself to be speaking to?

HF: When I create I am speaking, perhaps, to an anonymous person. Sort of like in a dream where you know someone is with you, but you don’t know who, but in the dream you have no particular interest in knowing who it is, until you wake up. I know I am painting for an audience, but who that audience will be is always a mystery, which is part of the thrill. I’d like to say that I am just painting for me, but the hypothetical audience always feels present and influential. Art is made to be seen.

BKHZ: How do you know that you’re ready to share your work with the public?

HF: I am always apprehensive to declare a work finished and release it to the world. There is always a sense of “it could have been more” or “it could have been better” and it is always “to be continued”. In my case, when the paint is dry, the work is finished as I don’t like to paint over dry paint. I do not release every work I make to the public. Some will never be seen.

BKHZ: What are you looking forward the most with having a duo exhibition with Justice?

HF: I feel extremely privileged to show alongside Justice, and to see the world as seen through his eyes. His work is exquisite - sensitive, yet powerful.

Seeing my work next to his makes me view it in a whole new light.

I have never had a purely digital exhibition so I am curious to see how it unfolds and how people will respond. I am happy that it will be able to reach a wider audience and more people will be able to “attend” from the comfort of their own personal safe havens.