Exhibited

Stevenson, Cape Town, Statecraft, 16 April to 30 May 2015.

Notes

I Demand That You Assassinate Me is an obvious take on Jacques-Louis David's Death of Marat (1793) in which the artist's close friend Jean-Paul Marat lies dead in a bath after having been assassinated for his role as a leader of the French Revolution. This calls to mind revolutionary leaders of African factions, who, despite their feeling of duty towards their political causes, may too feel the burden of leadership as they fight for their place amongst great opposition.

In his work, Mawande Ka Zenzile delves into the relationship between politics and perception, rethinking how we experience art. He distills materialist beliefs, rigid doctrines, and symbolic archetypes, reshaping them into the core of his practice.