NIROX, Pro Helvetia Johannesburg and the Villa-Legodi Centre presents the opening of Stefanie Koemeda's temporary exhibition: In My Brutish Breast, at NIROX Sculpture Park at the Cool Room.
The opening is held on September 30 and the exhibition runs until October 30.
The title of Koemeda's exhibition is drawn from an epitaph, penned by Pope Leo X in the early sixteenth century, in which he writes about an elephant named Hanno that he received as a gift from the Portuguese king.
The elephant was brought to him by the Portuguese ambassador Tristão da Cunha from Cochin, India, in 1514. Placed alongside a fresco by Raphael, the Pope's epitaph includes a line "And in my brutish breast they perceived human feelings", that could be said to summarise the driving impulse behind much of the work on show.
Produced while in residence at NIROX, the exhibition comprises ceramic-based relief works, sculptures, and watercolours. It continues Koemeda's ongoing interests in deep time, archeology, hyperobjects, and future geologies.
It showcases a range of works produced while in residence, from ceramic-based relief works and sculptures to ink drawings and watercolours.