{"title":"UMSINSI WOKUZIMILELA - SMISO CELE","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;\"\u003eLemkus Gallery is excited to present \u003ci\u003eUmsinsi Wokuzimilela, \u003c\/i\u003ea post-residency exhibition by Smiso Cele. Cele’s multi-disciplinary practice, which manifests across drawing, painting, and sculpture, takes inspiration from decolonial gardening. Considering the contradistinction between gardening as a vocation and domestic gardening, Cele meditates on the opposing politics and historical tradition of labour in each context. Produced as an extension of his ongoing project \u003ci\u003eEbhuqwini\u003c\/i\u003e (loosely referring to a dusty place), an informal referent for the unfloored room in which he grew up in Kwa-Zulu Natal, which was shared amongst siblings and doubled as a storage space for gardening tools. This experience engendered a particular relation to objects like the shovel, a recurring feature in his work, not only as something charged with labour but also as a device that evokes memories of home. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;\"\u003eCele distorts the object to the point of complete dysfunction, effectively emancipating them from further work while potentiating possibilities for new modes of action. Following Aimé Césaire, they become de-thingified\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 1.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: ZWAdobeF;\"\u003e0F\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca style=\"mso-footnote-id: ftn1;\" href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\" title=\"\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"MsoFootnoteReference\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-special-character: footnote;\"\u003e\u003c!-- [if !supportFootnotes]--\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e[1]\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c!--[endif]--\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e, a reversal in the colonial process of turning beings into tools of production. Taking this further, Cele’s treatment of the shovel also serves as a reflection on several key moments in contemporary art and critical theory. Important in this regard is Audre Lorde’s seminal essay \u003ci\u003eThe Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House\u003c\/i\u003e (1979).  The shovel assumes the status of a colonial device which could, much like gardening itself, be seen as an extension of its project of asserting control over people and environments alike. Cele’s manner of distorting the shovel renders it functionless within the context of labour and forces an alternative reading of its generative capacity. Dysfunction therefore provides ways otherwise while never fully abandoning the tool as a commentary on the use of colonial instrument(s). The contorted shaft alludes to the violence and extraction intrinsic to gardening practices, such the process of pruning a fruit tree, which often entails the splicing and bending of branches to allow further growth. The reconfigured shovel is in another sense a conversation between Nolan Oswald Dennis’ installation \u003ci\u003egarden for fanon\u003c\/i\u003e (2021)\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 1.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: ZWAdobeF;\"\u003e1F\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca style=\"mso-footnote-id: ftn2;\" href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\" title=\"\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"MsoFootnoteReference\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-special-character: footnote;\"\u003e\u003c!-- [if !supportFootnotes]--\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e[2]\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c!--[endif]--\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e, and Frantz Fanon’s \u003ci\u003eThe Wretched of the Earth\u003c\/i\u003e (1961). Suggested by its form (wriggly) and as a metaphor for the subaltern, the shovel is a thing that works the land at the behest of another but goes unacknowledged for its contribution to the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;\"\u003eIn the current project, Cele takes up the image of his family home as an alternative object of memory. Usually cropped and fragmented into smaller parts, the building never fully occupies the frame— a way to obscure, withhold, and maintain privacy. The captured scenes are idyllic, a snapshot of the house in its most prosperous and picturesque condition. We remember things not as they are, but as they were the last time we thought about them. Memory is a trace, a reconstruction, it fails to provide a complete picture of reality. Cele’s images reflect this obscurity by covertly collaging different perspectives into the same composition. A tree blowing in the wind blurs in the camera lens while the house remains in focus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;\"\u003ePrinted via decoupage on plywood, the uneven surface of the timber leads to imperfections in the transfer process that further complicate the image and create a painterly sensibility. The use of plywood both as printing substrate and as a plinth for sculptural works is not without meaning. Initially repurposed from shipping crates used to transport the artworks of lecturers during the time of his studies at the University of Johannesburg, the material infers movement from one place to another. This could be seen as a reference to the logistical demands of institutional labour, since Cele works on a project basis and needs to travel frequently to realise opportunities to produce work. The implied movement of the shipping crate also comments on migrant crises, both historically and in the present day. The demand for cheap labour creates the impetus for the transfer of bodies across borders\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 1.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: ZWAdobeF;\"\u003e2F\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca style=\"mso-footnote-id: ftn3;\" href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\" title=\"\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"MsoFootnoteReference\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-special-character: footnote;\"\u003e\u003c!-- [if !supportFootnotes]--\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e[3]\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c!--[endif]--\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;\"\u003eThe exhibition title, \u003ci\u003eUmsinsi Wokuzimilela\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 1.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: ZWAdobeF; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;\"\u003e3F\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eor “the tree that grows on its own” is the name for the Coral Tree (Erythrina lysistemon), widely known as the Lucky Bean Tree. In Zulu tradition, the tree used as a hedge to safeguard homesteads and planted on the graves of chiefs. Its radiant red seeds and bark are used in medicine and as charms for good fortune. Borrowed in this context, it captures the grounded nature of Cele’s practice and the state of his home as an entity that refuses to fall apart despite disrepair. The sentiment echoes the broader refusal inherent in gardening as a mode of resistance against untimely upheaval(s). To cultivate a plant signifies not only an investment in a place to stay or an intention to \u003ci\u003estay put\u003c\/i\u003e, but also a kind of contract with the earth insofar as a duty of care that requires future commitment. The name, then, says less about miraculous, self-regulating growth of the tree and more about resilience and claiming a sense of belonging.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"mso-element: footnote-list;\"\u003e\n\u003c!-- [if !supportFootnotes]--\u003e\u003cbr clear=\"all\"\u003e\u003chr align=\"left\" size=\"1\" width=\"33%\"\u003e\n\u003c!--[endif]--\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"mso-element: footnote;\" id=\"ftn1\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoFootnoteText\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u003ca style=\"mso-footnote-id: ftn1;\" href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\" title=\"\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"MsoFootnoteReference\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-special-character: footnote;\"\u003e\u003c!-- [if !supportFootnotes]--\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e[1]\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c!--[endif]--\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e \u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eDiscourse of Colonialism\u003c\/i\u003e (1955) \u003c\/span\u003eAimé Césaire defines “thingification” as a central process of colonialism that reduces human beings into inanimate objects and commodities. \u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"mso-element: footnote;\" id=\"ftn2\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoFootnoteText\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u003ca style=\"mso-footnote-id: ftn2;\" href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\" title=\"\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"MsoFootnoteReference\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-special-character: footnote;\"\u003e\u003c!-- [if !supportFootnotes]--\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e[2]\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c!--[endif]--\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e Cele encountered \u003ci\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003egarden for fanon\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003e (2021) by Nolan Oswald Dennis in the exhibition conditions at Goodman Gallery in 2021. Dennis’ installation constructed a bioactive system in which earthworms consumed pages of Frantz Fanon’s \u003ci\u003eThe Wretched of the Earth\u003c\/i\u003e and in turn produced nutrient-rich earth. The work necessitated a carer (audience and gallery staff) to maintain the ecosystem for the duration of the presentation. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"mso-element: footnote;\" id=\"ftn3\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoFootnoteText\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u003ca style=\"mso-footnote-id: ftn3;\" href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\" title=\"\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"MsoFootnoteReference\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-special-character: footnote;\"\u003e\u003c!-- [if !supportFootnotes]--\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e[3]\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c!--[endif]--\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e \u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003eAn interesting art historical precedent relating to the use of the shipping crate in Black conceptual art can be found in Glen Ligon’s \u003ci\u003eUntitled (To Disembark)\u003c\/i\u003e, 1993. It featured a series of crates modeled after the box used by Henry Brown to escape enslavement by shipping himself from Virginia to Philadelphia. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"2-again-2026","title":"2 (again), 2026","description":"\u003cp\u003ePlywood, found shovel. 217 x 133 x 77 cm. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Smiso Cele","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44777112862855,"sku":null,"price":35000.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0594\/1569\/1399\/files\/38.png?v=1780557348"},{"product_id":"hesitations-2026","title":"Hesitations, 2026","description":"\u003cp\u003ePlywood, found shovel. 130 x 71.5 x 61 cm. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Smiso Cele","offers":[{"title":"Default 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