IINKUMBULO is the debut solo exhibition of Songezo Zantsi presenting a selection of paintings related to the artist’s upbringing in the Eastern Cape during the early 1990s. With Iinkumbulo (‘Memories’ in English), Zantsi reckons with the past and considers how his childhood fits within a national story of power and violence.

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Zantsi includes images drawn from his family archive alongside portrayals of massacres and upheaval occurring during the same period.

Using well-respected South African photographers, particularly Greg Marinovich, as a primary reference point, Zantsi represents violence within political and social behaviour. The Bisho and Boipatong Massacres (both in 1992 and depicted in examples Ungalibali 1 & 2, Abafazi 3) are important historical markers of culture in South Africa—to Zantsi they are also archeptyal:

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"Violence for me stems from people wanting to protect what they have or trying to take overwhat they don’t have—it exists across all ethnic groups. As South African’s we have a particular understanding of violence as a form of social behaviour I feel it is important to reflect on how we have experienced it and to share our understanding with the rest of the world."

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Personal scenes depict the artist’s first birthday, as well as his grandmother, a domestic worker, teaching her employer’s daughter how to paint. Sisonke (2022) features children playing on the street and offers a contemporary note to this body of work. Zantsi observes:

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"These calm scenes balance a lot of the violence that I saw was happening during this time. I feel the balance is needed because if I only depicted one side of society, I would be robbing myself as a creative and as a thinker. There is a scene, Abafazi 3 (2022), which depicts a very young child who was killed in the Boipatong massacre. For me, though it may seem strange, this scene relates a lot to me celebrating a first birthday (Usapho (2022)). I wanted to state these social norms outright and represent these complex relationships in society."

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Gentle distortions and pastel-like colours recur throughout the paintings as Zantsi integrates disparate scenes through a personal style. In some instances, he adds or removes elements from his reference images and in others the original composition is retained. Using semi-dried oil paint Zantsi achieves a softness and integrity to his detailing which is complemented by his angular forms and unique palette.

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With this body of work, Zantsi offers his perspective on the recent past, personal and political, while announcing himself as a contributor to South African painting.