Kemang Wa Lehulere: In All My Wildest Dreams

On November 26th I attended the showcase of contemporary artist Kemang Wa Lehulere, who is a visiting artist at the Art Institute of Chicago. His exhibit, In All My Wildest Dreams, focuses on the culture and history of Capetown, South Africa where Lehulere was born. In addition to his solo exhibition at AIC, Lehulere has also showcased at Gasworks, London; Lombard Freid Projects, New York; the Goethe-Institut, Johannesburg; and the Association of Visual Arts in Cape Town. 

 When I can't laugh I can't write (2015) chalk on
blackboard paint

Lehulere's work was very aesthetically pleasing to view. His combination of installation and 3D work complement each other in a very dynamic way. When I first entered the exhibit, his piece titled "When I can't laugh I can't write", which features a chalk drawing of a pencil sharpener on top of chalkboard paint, immediately caught my attention. Suit cases filled with grass and broken porcelain cat statues lay at the bottom of the painting, covering a large amount of the floor area space, preventing viewers from walking past while pulling them in for a closer look. 

X Y Z (2016) Salvaged school desks, metal

Moving deeper into the exhibit, I discovered my favorite piece, titled X Y Z. X Y Z is an 
installation piece made of three school desks, cut and reassembled to create objects that resemble paper airplanes. It's interesting Lehulere titled the piece X Y Z- the last three letters of the English alphabet- instead of ABC, because ABC is so commonly associated with schooling. Maybe this is a nod to the end of a time in Lehulere's life where school is the focus of his time. 

One is too many, a thousand will never be enough (2016)

Symbols of schooling and education litter the exhibit, with chalkboard paint, school desks, pencil sharpeners and sheet music.

During an interview about his exhibit, Lehulere stated “My caution is, always, what kind of story does one tell outside the country? You have CNN and the BBC saturated with images of poverty and violence. They want the flames — Africa burning again. But there is peaceful, intellectual protest, too.”

Maybe Lehulere's goal throughout In All My Wildest Dreams is creating the intellectually themed environment to talk about Africa- about apartheid, protest, poverty. Real issues that affect Lehulere on a personal level. 

Broken Light (Feya Faku) (2016)
Chalk and paint on wall-mounted
blackboard

Lehulere's work can be classified in the postmodern category of contemporary art, as he attempts to show a physical representation of an ideology or reoccurring theme, in his case education and the culture of South Africa.

Lehulere's work similarly reminds me of Felix Gonzales-Torres, with his work straying from the literal and instead focusing on the viewer's interpretation and interaction with the overarching theme the work revolves around. For Gonzales-Torres, this was the AIDS crisis, and how it personally affecting him and his partner. For Lehulere, this is Apartheid, and how this affected his home life having biracial parents. 

View of main gallery room

Overall, Lehulere's exhibit was very engaging of all the senses. From his piece "One is too many, a thousand will never be enough" which consisted of a robotic parrot repeating letters and numbers, to his video of a cigarette endlessly burning, to his drawings of sign language and musical notes, viewers are consistently engaged and involved in Lehulere's work, which is what makes his show so successful.