Image credits: © Anthea Pokroy
Phumele Kunene
In My Element
INCCA project space, Victoria Yards, Johannesburg
2-29 March 2025
Presented by INCCA (Independent Network for Contemporary Culture & Art)
Supported by National Arts Council South Africa (NAC)
Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP 5).
In My Element
INCCA project space, Victoria Yards, Johannesburg
2-29 March 2025
Presented by INCCA (Independent Network for Contemporary Culture & Art)
Supported by National Arts Council South Africa (NAC)
Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP 5).
Phumelele Kunene presents her series In My Element, a deeply personal photographic essay capturing her late mother’s belongings. Forming part of INCCA’s Art After Baby initiative, each piece is a moving still-life infused with memories of a life lived and lost. “These images are more than mementos; they are portraits of her spirit,” Kunene explains, “tangible expressions of my longing and attachment. The imagery reflects my desire to preserve her essence, a collection of souvenirs from our shared experiences and the life we built together.”
In her application to participate in Art After Baby, Kunene reflected on the intersection of care-giving and loss in her life, and how this has shaped her as an artist. “I have personally experienced how both loss and care-giving can profoundly impact the time and mental space needed for art-making. After losing my mother, I found myself navigating the deep emotional void her absence left. Shortly after, I became a mother to my son, embracing the joys and challenges of care-giving while still processing my grief. These experiences have shaped my journey as an artist, influencing the themes I explore and my creative process.”
Lesego Chepape featured Phumelele Kunene’s solo exhibition in the Friday section of the Mail & Guardian writing “Kunene’s In My Element is not just an exhibition; it’s an invitation to experience the raw complexity of grief, memory and healing”. Chepape also describes INCCA’s Art After Baby as a “timely, pioneering programme… designed to address the structural barriers faced by artists, particularly women.”
Read “Be patient with yourself. Phumelele Kunene in conversation with Ditiro Mashigo”, a text commisioned as part of INCCA’s AAB here.
In her application to participate in Art After Baby, Kunene reflected on the intersection of care-giving and loss in her life, and how this has shaped her as an artist. “I have personally experienced how both loss and care-giving can profoundly impact the time and mental space needed for art-making. After losing my mother, I found myself navigating the deep emotional void her absence left. Shortly after, I became a mother to my son, embracing the joys and challenges of care-giving while still processing my grief. These experiences have shaped my journey as an artist, influencing the themes I explore and my creative process.”
Lesego Chepape featured Phumelele Kunene’s solo exhibition in the Friday section of the Mail & Guardian writing “Kunene’s In My Element is not just an exhibition; it’s an invitation to experience the raw complexity of grief, memory and healing”. Chepape also describes INCCA’s Art After Baby as a “timely, pioneering programme… designed to address the structural barriers faced by artists, particularly women.”
Read “Be patient with yourself. Phumelele Kunene in conversation with Ditiro Mashigo”, a text commisioned as part of INCCA’s AAB here.
Open call project ︎
Art
Siviwe James
Ubuhle Ngaphaya Kwameva
2-26 February 2025
Victoria Yards, Lorentzville, Johannesburg
Phumelele Kunene
In My Element
2-29 March 2025
Victoria Yards, Lorentzville, Johannesburg
Art
After
Baby Vol.2
Siviwe James
Ubuhle Ngaphaya Kwameva
2-26 February 2025
Victoria Yards, Lorentzville, Johannesburg
Phumelele Kunene
In My Element
2-29 March 2025
Victoria Yards, Lorentzville, Johannesburg
INCCA is pleased to announce the two incredibly talented artists selected from our Art After Baby (AAB) open call – Siviwe James and Phumelele Kunene. As part of the project, each artist held their own solo exhibition in February and March 2025 at Victoria Yards, Lorentzville, Johannesburg.
The second edition of AAB is again supported by the National Arts Council South Africa (NAC) Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP 5). AAB is an ongoing project initiated by INCCA in 2023 that supports those who are trying to juggle art-making with motherhood, care-giving or have been impacted by loss. This is one of the few projects in South Africa that acknowledges that artists are often “zero-hour workers” with a sporadic and unreliable income, and that many women carry the responsibility of being primary caregivers without the financial cushion to continue their practice.
The selected artists both create deeply personal work that reflects not only their positions as caregivers and artists, but also how they have navigated loss, which has impacted their roles as mothers and created new, unexpected paths for them as creatives.
The overall aim of AAB is to confront what remains a taboo subject, and to find pathways for the accepted applicants to participate in an industry often still dominated by men and/or privilege, and also to explore how art-making itself can be a cathartic salve for the many challenges of motherhood, caregiving and/or trauma and loss. AAB aims to provide artists with a short period of breathing room to focus on their work, and motivates those who are battling to juggle a career in the arts to find spaces and avenues to continue producing. In addition, we hope to establish routes and approaches for others in similar positions.
Previous recipients include artists Ditiro Mashigo and Naledi Chai.
The second edition of AAB is again supported by the National Arts Council South Africa (NAC) Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP 5). AAB is an ongoing project initiated by INCCA in 2023 that supports those who are trying to juggle art-making with motherhood, care-giving or have been impacted by loss. This is one of the few projects in South Africa that acknowledges that artists are often “zero-hour workers” with a sporadic and unreliable income, and that many women carry the responsibility of being primary caregivers without the financial cushion to continue their practice.
The selected artists both create deeply personal work that reflects not only their positions as caregivers and artists, but also how they have navigated loss, which has impacted their roles as mothers and created new, unexpected paths for them as creatives.
The overall aim of AAB is to confront what remains a taboo subject, and to find pathways for the accepted applicants to participate in an industry often still dominated by men and/or privilege, and also to explore how art-making itself can be a cathartic salve for the many challenges of motherhood, caregiving and/or trauma and loss. AAB aims to provide artists with a short period of breathing room to focus on their work, and motivates those who are battling to juggle a career in the arts to find spaces and avenues to continue producing. In addition, we hope to establish routes and approaches for others in similar positions.
Previous recipients include artists Ditiro Mashigo and Naledi Chai.
Explore Previous AAB projects and texts below