9.25″x13″; lithographic print; 2003. Courtesy of the artist.
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Glimpses of the Now
at Four Corners in London, United Kingdom
28 May-1 June 2025
“Glimpses of the Now” places artist Sam Nhlengethwa’s lithographic collage series, “Glimpses of the 50s and 60s”, in conversation with works by six contemporary artists whose practices involve varied forms of collage-making. The exhibition reflects on why the practice of cutting and pasting has emerged, in both the twentieth and twenty first centuries, as a preferred visual language—not previously afforded by the conventions of photography—for representing and re-presenting the experiences of apartheid and post-apartheid, racism and xenophobia, as well as individual and collective identities. The exhibition explores further how collage disrupts photography’s coloniality, allowing for the fragmentation and juxtaposition, the merging and colliding, of multiple photographic frames, conceptually and practically.
78.7″x78.7″; collage, charcoal, liquid charcoal, ink, and soft pastel on canvas; 2021. Courtesy of the artist.
“Glimpses of the 50s and 60s”, a series of thirty lithographic collages, reflects the tumultuous landscape of South Africa under apartheid. Completed in 2003, the series brings together photographs from the artist’s family albums and photographs published in Drum, a renowned South African magazine that highlighted Johannesburg’s contemporary black urban culture and featured work by black photographers.
INFORMATION
Four Corners
121 Roman Road
Bethnal Green
London E2 0QN, United Kingdom
+44 20 8981 6111
Hours:
Wednesday-Saturday, 11AM-6PM