Exhibiting Architects:
Kgaugelo Lekalajala – Tales of the Vulnerability of African Women in Transit
Gugulethu Mthembu – The Tale of Aicha Qandisha
Kate Otten – Threads
Gloria Pavita – na Bulongo [with soil]
Curatorial Statement
The Biennale Architettura 2023, “The Laboratory of the Future,” curated by Lesley Lokko, delved into the transformative potential of architecture to shape our future. This exhibition draws from the work of four female architects of Africa who were part of The Biennale Architettura 2023 and comments on themes of global and intermediate migration.
Gloria Anzaldua says in “Borderlands/La Frontera”, “We have a tradition of migration, a tradition of long walks.” These works capture the complexities of spaces affected by migration, including those in transit, those left behind, and the impact of migration on men’s psyches and the resultant abuse of women’s bodies. They utilise film, digital prints, crafting, and storytelling to encapsulate the complex narratives of spaces of migration with a particular focus on the outcomes for women.
Kate Otten begins with a major impetus for migration in South Africa, providing an overview of mining and extraction and their impact on the landscape and migration trails. Kagugelo Lekalakala explores how the female body migrates between the fragmented landscapes of rural and urban areas, where she is displaced, unseen, and violated. Gugulethu Mthembu addresses the redressing of histories and legacies of female oppression and representation. Gloria Pavita explores narratives that centre practices of care, repair, reclamation, and repatriation through soil, with her closing narrative centred on her late grandmother’s garden, which remains the catalyst of her experience and practice of architecture.
These architects utilise their unique perspectives and experiences to create works that are not only visually and intellectually stimulating but also deeply rooted in the socio-cultural fabric of their contexts. Their projects invite viewers to reflect on the past, understand the present, and imagine future possibilities where architecture serves as a tool for social change and empowerment.
Kgaugelo Lekalakala
Kgaugelo Lekalakala (Mpumalanga, Republic of South Africa, 1994) lives and works in Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa
Kgaugelo Lekalakala is a young architect and artist who explores the Black body in space, using paintings, graphics, and architecture to critique spatial constructs. Her studies at The National School of the Arts (2012) where she specialised in sculpting, ceramics, painting, and design, broadened her medium in Architecture. In 2016 she obtained her bachelor’s degree at the University of Cape Town (BAS) and graduated from the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg (2019) with an MTech Arch (Prof) (CW). She was an External moderator for Honors and Masters students at the University of Johannesburg, (Graduate School of Architecture). Her work was published in City Journal: Tales of the Vulnerability of African Black Women in Transit Spaces (April: 2020), the Funambulist magazine on The Game-Changing Architecture Graduates (September: 2020) and Design Studio Vol. 3: Designs on History-Apartheid’s Architects (2021) by Lesley Lokko. She has been a part of panel discussions of various talks such as the University of Florida, the South African Institute of Architecture-Generational Dialogue and 16th Forum de Arquitectura in 2021 with ULA – Universidade Lusíada de Angola and arc en reve centre d’architecture and University of Waterloo Canada. She is currently the head creative curator of Tectura Global, a Part-time lecturer at the University of Pretoria and the founder and director of Blac Space.
Work
This visual project uses original surrealist collage-making as a critical architectural tactic to capture and expose the vulnerability of black female bodies in spaces of urban–rural transit. The surrealist images act as an allegorical tool to comment critique and question the very ‘real’ experiences and vulnerabilities black African women face as they transit between urban and rural landscapes today. My images move beyond the limited methods provided by traditional architectural knowledge to explore alternative spatial imaginaries of everyday issues of vulnerability and safety and to reveal some of the nuanced gendered dynamics black women experience in transit spaces. By drawing attention to how women linger and navigate through such spaces, my work seeks to provoke questions regarding the potential for more progressive and imaginative urban futures in the way urban transit and public space is designed.
Authorial collaborators
Kgaugelo Lekalakala: Architect, Diana Mokokobale Makgaopa (Voice Over), Lelethu Mabaso (Voice Over), Kegaogetswe Rakopa (Sound Engineer)
With the additional support of African Futures Institute
Gugulethu Mthembu
Gugulethu Sibonelelo Mthembu (Soweto, Republic of South Africa, 1992) lives and works in Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa
Gugulethu Mthembu is a practising architect, performer and gender activist. Her performance work, entitled Embodiments, has been published and performed internationally. Her work draws on African oral storytelling, slam poetry, design research and critiques of colonial and patriarchal power structures. A graduate of the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg, her work argues for the right to present ‘live’ work in place of a traditional written thesis, a tradition that, ironically, replicates the viva voce format of academic and judicial testimonies.
Work
The tale of Aicha Qandisha has existed since the seventh century. She is said to have been a shapeshifting female spirit that takes the form of multiple beings. Aicha Qandisha appears mostly in men’s dreams and is said to make a man who is possessed by her impotent or seduced into infidelity. Scholars have described how the position of Qandisha in folklore absolves men of their ‘ills’ and places the blame on the female spirit form. Africa’s eras of colonisation and some of its current politics still carry these manifestations of fears and biases toward the power and representation of women. Situated across different sites significant to the redressing of histories and legacies of female oppression and representation, this work takes the form of a new story for Aicha Qandisha, one in which she is repatriated across the sites: a concubine slave ship, the court of law, the King’s palace, the Biennale Architettura and now Keyes Art Mile.
Kate Otten
Kate Otten (Durban, Republic of South Africa, 1964) lives and works in Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa
Kate Otten is known for being an architect of place. Her buildings are born out of the South African context, weaving together materials, skills, politics, light, and landscape to create places that feed and nurture the human spirit. Kate believes that buildings have an emotional presence – ‘fulfilling the emotional and spiritual needs of the users is as important as creating a functional space.’
Graduating from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Kate worked for a year before setting up her own practice in 1989. Kate Otten Architects has subsequently developed into a singular practice with a varied body of work, including important public buildings and places of memory. The work has a powerful local resonance, seeking to bring a contemporary African sensibility and phenomenological approach to the architectural landscape in South Africa – often acting as an important counterweight to the dominant aspirational ‘Western’ aesthetic. Kate’s work has been widely published and has won numerous awards both locally and internationally. She is passionate about promoting the contribution of women to the profession.
Work
The golden thread of Johannesburg’s history started some two billion years ago when a massive meteorite crashed into the earth approximately 100kms south of the city sending debris and gold deposits flying which eventually came to rest in an arc-shaped ridge radiating from the Vredefort Dome – now a world heritage site. The discovery of this gold in 1886, and the gold rush that followed, led to the establishment of Johannesburg and the start of a Dangerous Liaison – between land and people, between great wealth and exploitation.
‘threads’ tells a story that is a simultaneous, intuitive reading of landscape and social geographies, told through age-old traditions of craft and making and narrated by women. The play of light and shadow, the use of colour and pattern, the hand-making and collaborative process, all reflect our architecture which is particular to place, tactile and nurtures the human spirit.
There are many readings of this work including an anthropological one – the mohair tapestry as a cloak to keep you warm, the beadwork a necklace to adorn the body. The woven cloak is simultaneously a sociological mapping of the surface landscape and topography where green spaces correspond to privileged, wealthy areas and tree-less areas to poor neighbourhoods, with mining waste dividing the two. Gold mines, represented by yellow pompoms, and water courses depicted by blue threads, complete this reading. The beaded necklace is a reading of the night sky and constellations above the Vredefort Dome; the backdrop to the work, a contour map showing the mining towns found along the arc-shaped ridge.
A 3-dimensional and immersive spatial reading is created by light from above that marks a shadow on the floor inscribed in a circle of light. This enables the piece to be viewed from above and below and experienced from ‘inside’ and out.
Team
Architects – Kate Otten, Salma Wadee
Tapestry – Frances van Hasselt, Katriena Kammies
Beadwork – The Herd Design
With the additional support of The Lucky Bean Trust
Gloria Pavita
Gloria Pavita (Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 1995) lives and works in Cape Town, Republic of South Africa
Gloria Pavita is a reader, writer, storyteller and spatial practitioner of an often unseen everyday, one inhabited by people who aren’t warranted the privilege to write or speak their own stories.
Work
Photo Credit: Ste Murray
Title : na Bulongo [with soil ]- in Lubumbashi Kiswahili – For the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023, The Curator’s Special Projects, theme : Food Agriculture & Climate Change
This installation is a filmic and experiential exploration of narratives that centre practices of care, repair, reclamation, and repatriation through soil. Soil is a body that holds and hosts the extractive, exploitative, and violent practices of the colonial and apartheid regimes, from the context of Philippi in Cape Town, South Africa, to that of Camp Mutombo in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. This project manifests in scenes that occur across the contexts between Philippi and Lubumbashi. To distinguish these scenes, characteristics of soil and from soil are used as literal/figurative devices to connect to the narratives expressed in each scene to pay homage to the themes of care, repair, reclamation, and repatriation.
Team
Nkulu Jacob Kyungu (videography & co-editing), Zaheer Cassim (videography) Ste Murray (exhibition videography)
On Screen – Gabbie, Rejoice, Mark & Tantine Elizabeth.
Voices of – Louie Tshabalala (Scene 01) ; Siwelile Senamile Mathenjwa (Scene 03)
Translations with – Premice Kongolo (Kiswahili), Sanelisiwe Dhlamini & Siwelile Senamile Mathenjwa (isiZulu), Khayakazi Ndodana & Ndimphiwe Lionel Bontiya (isiXhosa)
With the additional support of African Futures Institute
Credit for Portrait/Photograph: Khayakazi Ndodana
The Annex
Mbali Mthethwa, a visionary multidisciplinary product designer, project developer, and researcher from Johannesburg, South Africa, brings together her diverse expertise to create transformative art. With degrees in Community Development, Leadership, and Anthropology from the University of Johannesburg, Mthethwa founded The Herd in 2019, a multi-award-winning collective. The Herd masterfully integrates African artisanal techniques with contemporary art and culture, collaborating with women crafters from Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal to create stunning beadwork rooted in traditional Nguni techniques.
Under Mthethwa’s leadership, The Herd has significantly contributed to economic development and community upliftment, earning commissions from prestigious entities such as the South African Mint, NIKE, and the Human Sciences Research Council. Their work has graced international platforms including Maison & Objet Paris, the Brooklyn Museum, the Sharjah Architecture Triennial, and the Venice Biennale, and is celebrated in institutions like the Kunst Museum in Basel and the Wereldmuseum Leiden in the Netherlands.
With this exhibition, The Herd showcases exquisite beaded pieces that honor the rich heritage of Nguni craftsmanship. For the Nguni people, craft is not just a labour of love but a profound form of communication. This exhibition aims to revive and celebrate the divine spiritual beauty of African traditional craft, often obscured by historical whitewashing. By blending traditional Nguni techniques with contemporary design, each piece from The Herd embodies the enduring legacy and spirit of Nguni artistry.
Inspired by Ben Okri’s “The Famished Road,” Mthethwa’s latest series delves into themes of personal emergence and identity development. These pieces, described as love letters blending painful history with tender childhood memories, reflect the apartheid government’s deliberate actions embedded in infrastructure. Simultaneously, they symbolize resilience and beauty emerging from trauma. This work honours the complex legacy woven into our infrastructure, celebrating both the oppressive origins and the nostalgic warmth of our formative years, highlighting the enduring spirit that shines through adversity.
