Zwelethu Mthethwa Opens at Jack Shainman
Zwelethu Mthethwa, New Works
April 23 – May 23, 2009,
Opening Thursday, April 23, 6 – 8PM
Jack Shainman Gallery
513 West 20th Street
New York, New York
(212) 645-1701
Opening tonight at Jack Shainman Gallery is the fifth solo show from Zwelethu Mthethwa featuring large format photographs from several new series including, Mozambique, Coal Miners, and Contemporary Gladiators.
His striking portraits show Africans with a sense of dignity and resistance in the face of social and economic hardship. Mthethwa works both in the urban and rural spheres to document domestic life, labor, the environment, and landscape in South Africa and its neighboring countries. By defying the convention to presenting Africa and Africans as visually exotic or diseased, he finds a new approach through his use of scale, color, composition, and his collaboration with his subjects. Mthethwa’s work breathes new life to representation of post-apartheid South African society and globalization.
Aperture will release a publication of Mthethwa’s work to be released in the Fall of 2009. Zwelethu Mthethwa is the artist’s long-awaited first comprehensive monograph, which will provide an overview of his work to-date and feature the stunning portraits that have brought him international acclaim.
