somdyakalashe

i spent 14 days in the Tankwa Karoo making art, star gazing, reflecting on my (meta)physical, psychosocial, cultural and historical relationship to the land. i’ve learned too much to address here, so these are just highlights. i went there to bury a few pieces of canvas in varying geological sites, wanting to expand my tactile exploration of landscape. later, i found myself desiring something of greater scale as a way of externalising this expansive sense of spacetime that i was experiencing; to create something that requires a sustained engagement with this near otherworldly landscape. this new idea only got going right in the middle of my stay there; in fact i worked on it until the very last possible hour before i had to pack and leave. the most incredible thing of all was that i got a lift back home in a small aircraft, and Will flew us over my work as we left the desert for the real world. absolutely magnificent. thank you Tankwa Artscape! the end.

// ARTISTE EN RÉSIDENCE AUTOMNE 2025 I INGA SOMDYALA // À l’automne dernier, l'artiste Inga Somdyala a été accueilli en résidence au Capc où il a a concentré son travail sur l'histoire de l’Entrepôt Lainé en tant qu’entrepôt de marchandises coloniales. - Inga Somdyala est un artiste originaire d’eKomani, qui vit et travaille actuellement au Cap, en Afrique du Sud. Inga Somdyala travaille avec la terre, l’ocre et d’autres pigments naturels, en s’intéressant au paysage comme espace de mémoire historique profonde. À travers la peinture, le dessin ou l’installation, sa pratique s’ancre dans une histoire de tensions autour de la terre en tant qu’arène de luttes politiques, psychosociales et culturelles. Au Capc, Inga Somdyala a mené un travail sur le site de l’Entrepôt Lainé et sur son histoire d'entrepôt de marchandises coloniales. Il a abordé les thèmes du commerce maritime international, du travail, des migrations humaines et des échanges culturels entre l’Europe et l’Afrique. Concrètement, il a apporté en résidence plusieurs toiles déjà marquées par des terres locales du Cap. Son idée est de « plonger » ces toiles tachées de terre en différents points de la Garonne. Il s’intéresse à ce point de contact entre la terre et l’eau sur la surface de la toile, à la fois comme texture et comme textualité. Il a également exploré de nouvelles stratégies d’installation de ces textiles teintés dans un environnement de travail différent. - Inga Somdyala est titulaire d'un master en arts plastiques à la Michaelis School of Fine Art de l’Université du Cap (2019). Il est le lauréat 2022 du MTN New Contemporaries Award. Ses œuvres figurent dans la collection de l’IZIKO South African National Gallery, ainsi que dans plusieurs collections publiques et privées, en Afrique du Sud et à l’international. Somdyala a participé récemment à We The People: 30 Years of Democracy à la Norval Foundation, une vaste rétrospective de l’art sud-africain post-apartheid. - Images : 1. Portrait de l'artiste. Photo : Yusuf Essop 2, 3. Bord de Garonne, Bx. Photo : Inga Somdyala 4. Inga Somdyala à Zébra 3, 2025.

Inga Somdyala @isomdyala unpacks his site-specific commissioned artwork that is on view in 𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙮 exhibition. The breathtaking installation visually and metaphorically links the different exhibition themes through a single red sail, anchored by counterweights of sea salt. It slices through the space, connecting the ground with the sky. The work offers a poignant dialogue between individual and collective memory through its evocative linkage to South African sea-faring colonial histories. In his practice, Inga creates a space for contemplation, inviting viewers to navigate the complexities of history and contemporary life in South Africa. Watch the full video on our YouTube channel. Check the link in the bio. #OneAndTheMany #ComeToJavettUP

Inga Somdyala (f. 1994) bor och är verksam i Kapstaden, Sydafrika. Somdyala intresserar sig för att skapa textila skulpturer och installationer som svarar mot specifika platser.

I Stockholms kosmologier intar han en av Liljevalchs största salar, skulpturhallen, med rep, havssalt och röda segel. De vidsträckta seglen för tankarna till Kapstadens sjöfart som spelat en betydande roll i stadens koloniala historia och de kulturer som flödat in och ut ur platsen.

Verk av Inga Somdyala visas i: STOCKHOLMS KOSMOLOGIER 21 november 2025–11 januari 2026 Foto: @photographer_mattiaslindback

‘Three Crowns of the Sailor’ is up for Stockholm Cosmologies at @liljevalchs until 11 january. three cheers @stormjvr + @joanna.sandell ❤️ 💥 1-2 @photographer_mattiaslindback … if you come in during the day, the winter light coming through the windows is likely a bright white, or a cool blue when the sky is open, making the red stark and clean in the room. on those sunny days the blue windows give a sharp brilliance to the red in the white room. this colour and light combination is rare. the volume of the space allows a viewer to pass into, through and around the work. as you walk into the sculpture hall the three sails rise up to the ceiling. if you walk all the way to the west end of the hall and view them from underneath, they swoop down overhead and hover above the floor. from here the striking repetition of form and colour is apparent. if you go back behind the pillars you can walk underneath the anchored rope and look inside the belly of the sail. when the sun sets, the windows darken and the soft light creates dramatic shadows in the ruffles of the fabric. under the low spotlights, the repetition of form and colour turns ominous. the red in the dark hall takes on a quality of theatre. the arc above each sail receives a shadow and this soft red glow as the light bounces off the fabric. if you stand on the east end of the room, by the sea salt pillows on the floor, the air conditioning above sort of buoys the sail. standing still you can watch it bob and sway lightly, getting a sense of the delicate tension that the work floats on.

about seven days in sweden: stockholm cosmologies exhibition opens tomorrow @liljevalchs . some bts. big link ups from sa. fasching went to the moon and back via asher’s ‘another time ensemble’. visit at lefifi’s to travel back in time. more great books. brief tour of an old sailmakers workshop. frosty sunlight. what else kanene… 🤔 anyway, will share more on the new installation shortly. outside asf otherwise.

about a month in residence at @capcmusee in no particular order - plenty of grrreat books - a little bit of work at @zebra3_buy_sellf - some studio visits (not pictured) - mostly autumn/winter songs (also not pictured) - some cultural repatriation via great records - a lot of time on the Garonne - a few sketchy ideas - more later maybe.

@javett_up ❤️ @stormjvr

MEET INVITED ARTIST | Inga Somdyala Inga Somdyala @isomdyala is an interdisciplinary artist based in Cape Town. He obtained his master’s in fine Art from the Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2019 and leverages his expertise to hold space for nuanced explorations into South African identities post apartheid. His work weaves together personal experiences with broader cultural, social, and political themes, using diverse mediums to reflect on the interplay between past and present. His work aims to engage with the emotional and mental. Inga's practice creates a space for contemplation, inviting viewers to navigate the complexities of history and contemporary life in South Africa. His evocative work in 𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙮 exhibition, offers a poignant dialogue between individual and collective memory. With a focus on emotional depth and cultural resonance, his art challenges and connects, making it a must-see in this exhibition.

‘DRESSED OVERALL’ opens today at @whatiftheworld_gallery - please come and celebrate with us if you’re in Cape Town from 10h00-13h00. the show is up until Saturday 31 May. ungaphoswa. jpg by @mattsl8r

every installation of ‘Itinerario: Key to the East’ so far. this started toward the end of my residency at @niroxarts , i was using this vibrant red drop sheet to collect rich brown soil in the Cradle of Humankind. at some point i had worked through all the canvas i brought with me, and turned to this found dropsheet for new experiments… the @villa_legodi_cfs was in-between shows so we quickly put this up over a few days and did a very low key presentation of my work at the end of the residency in both the Nirox Foundation residency space as well as the Villa Legodi Centre for Sculpture space. the latter, a bright double-volume space, was most flattering for the installation - there’s nothing like being under the sails. anyway, for my second solo at @_reservoir_ , we used these as patterns to make these sails using Umbhaco, a ‘traditional’ material used for ceremonial Xhosa dress. i chose the red as an extension of this red ochre pigment that characterises most of my work, thinking about what it means to adopt and culturally appropriate these manufactured goods, and at what point they become inextricable from ancient Nguni traditions. the third install iteration is still up @lemkusgallery for another week, i think? currently refining a whole new version of this idea so it’s back to the stew-dio for now 👨🏾‍🍳

late post but man like Eric Tschernow took some sharp images of ‘The Deep History; The Long Past’ while installed at @psmgallery in Berlin last week, in collaboration with @_reservoir_ (Cape Town). sincere thanks to Sabine at PSM Gallery and Heinrich + Shona at RESERVOIR Projects 🕊️ for more info contact: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]