Lebohang Kganye is shortlisted for the exhibition Haufi nyana? I’ve come to take you home at Foam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (17 February – 21 May 2023). 

Lebohang Kganye’s (b. 1990, South Africa) vast, experimental installations create a space  between memory and fantasy. Here she collects stories from her family with excerpts from South African literature and rewrites them into theatrical scripts. Silhouettes, cut-outs, puppets, shadows and ghosts, fashioned from images in photo albums as well as her own compositions, (re-)enact these scripts and bring them to life. 

The exhibition's title, "Haufi nyana?" meaning "too close?" in Sesotho, one of South Africa's official languages, reflects the dialogue between the viewer and the artist. It touches on notions of home as heritage and identity, as well as physical and mental spaces. Her skilful blending of images and words allows her to navigate the complexity of the South African experience, opening new ways of understanding and contributing to the process of decolonisation.  

Through photographic montages, installations and film animation, Kganye’s projects cross personal and collective histories. She draws from shared oral narratives and fictional texts, exploring South Africa’s layered history before, during and after apartheid and colonialism. 

Her work Mohlokomedi wa Tora (2018) will be on display at The Photographers’ Gallery. In the large-scale installation, Kganye uses silhouettes and life-sized cut-out figures. She considers the impact of her family’s migration, due to land acts and apartheid law, including the alteration of their surname. Through symbolic elements such as a central rotating light representing the Sesotho word for ‘light’, kganya, she illustrates her ancestral inheritance.