Multi-disciplinary Artist

Thania Petersen

The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) presents open-studio investigation KASSARAM by multi-disciplinary artist Thania Petersen as part of the Atelier Residency programme of the museum. The residency will run until 17 October 2021.

Meaning a “big mess, out of place, or upside down”, KASSARAM is taken from the title of Petersen’s most recent art film, which analyses strategies used in creating and perpetuating cultural divides amongst people of colour through art – from colonialism to the present. It is also a fitting word to describe the open and experimental nature of the Atelier space Petersen will work from over the next five months.

Launched as an experimental platform and residency that provides artists with an opportunity to create new work, conduct research, and develop ideas for future projects, the Atelier is a multi-gallery area situated on the second floor of the museum. In addition to providing an exploratory space for artists, the Atelier is also open to the public, allowing visitors to Zeitz MOCAA to have unique access and insight into the modes of production and processes followed by the artists.

“The Atelier residency provides artists with a unique platform for reflection on their work within a public environment, as well as access to and interaction with the visitors and communities of the museum through programmes,” says Koyo Kouoh, Executive Director and Chief Curator at Zeitz MOCAA. “It also challenges and expands the traditional role of the art museum by bringing modes of creation and making, working and thinking, into the public sphere in a way that is immediate and unfiltered. As previous residencies have illustrated, this leads to alternate perceptions of how artists create but also how art is consumed and engaged with.”

Petersen, who uses photography, performance, and installation to address the intricacies and complexities of her identity in contemporary South Africa, is no stranger to Zeitz MOCAA. Her work forms part of the Zeitz permanent collection and she was also one of the inaugural artists on exhibit at the launch of the museum in September 2017.

“I am extremely excited at the opportunities the Atelier presents. My new film KASSARAM will be on view and I am hoping to turn the fictional set into reality in one of the studio spaces,” says Petersen, who believes that artists play several roles in society. “I feel art is what makes us human, it is what sets us apart from everything else on Earth. We love through art, we yearn through art, we worship through art. “In my art, I attempt to tell [my family] stories and rewrite the narrative I grew up with, which served to erase

the culture of my people, often leaving us feeling inferior. The Creolised community of the Cape are no longer the lost children of this land. We have fought and loved and lost and laughed and birthed on this soil. We are the Cape, we carry the oceans and land in our blood. I want everyone to know who we are.”

Throughout the artist’s projects, she attempts to unpack contemporary trends of Islamophobia through her analysis of the continuing impact of colonialism, European and American imperialism, and the increasing influence of rightwing ideologies, all anchored by reference points that sit largely in Islam and the awareness of its religious, cultural, and traditional practices.

Tandazani Dhlakama, Zeitz MOCAA Assistant Curator and the organiser of Petersen’s residency, says, “Petersen’s work remains relevant, especially at a time of shifting global perceptions of Africa and its diaspora, as well as the world at large. Despite the impacts of COVID19, which have – to a certain extent – impelled people to become more insular, technology has allowed for an increased awareness of other cultures, religions, practices, and so forth. It will be interesting to see how these themes further unfold in her work during the residency, especially as it relates to the social and cultural impact of westernised consumer culture, her Cape Malay heritage, and the practice of Sufi Islamism.”

Petersen’s residency and exhibition will run until 17 October, with her art film KASSARAM and the open studio available to the public at the Atelier, Level 2, Zeitz MOCAA.