“We live it. We breathe it. We talk about it, because it festers inside our minds and we can’t stop…It’s an energy. It’s an energy that becomes this ball.”
These are the words from a conversation between Riley Grant, Claire and Abi Meekel. Referring to themselves as the Conversationists, Riley, Claire and Abi along with Kayla Armstrong and Adilson De Olivieira will be turning Glory blue for their exhibition One Fish Two Fish Blaue Fish Blue Fish.
The obsession over blue began with a concoction of whatsapp conversations, readings about the rhizome and teasing out understandings of semiotics earlier this year. In a sense, the whole process from conceptualization to the production of their works and soundscapes can be seen as an artwork being sculpted through time and digital codes. Thinking about conversations around the colour blue may seem confusing, but this exhibition will reveal that it more than an obsession with a colour.
They are exploring blue as an image, as a sound, as a feeling and something more. With each combination of images, soundscapes and feelings, the meaning of blue is detangled and entangled once again, but never entangled in the same way. The exhibition is therefore, not so much a fixation on the word blue, but more an exploration of semiotics; choosing to work with blue and unfold what blue signifies to themselves and others.
In a way they are thinking about changing the meaning of blue…or not.
Be sure to check out their exhibition at Glory on the 6th of July. Below is a teaser and an invitation to see, feel and experience blue in a new way.
The exhibition Future 76 under AUTONOMY WAVE will take place on the 30th of June. We would like to introduce the artists who will be collaborating for this exhibition.
Jéad Stehr @mistehrjead
“I borrowed my dad’s camera one day when I was 12, promising to return it after I took a few shots, and to this day I still haven’t brought it back to him. At first, it was arbitrary subjects, like clouds or a pipe that looked interesting, but as I started to fall more in love with working with the camera, the more I loved coming up with concepts and being able to relay the idea through the camera. I loved the ability to communicate an idea to someone that would be indescribable otherwise. The act of transferring your thoughts to another person. It’s a way of changing beliefs and opinions.
Generally, I write long pieces or poems to accompany my work. Sort of like a description trying to capture the essence of the photo. Sometimes the poem inspires the photo, and other times I scramble for words to bring meaning to my work. I like subverting the viewer’s intentions and serving up ideas and ideals that make a viewer think. A lot of the time I like to work with models of colour because I’m very passionate about creating a safe space for POC. Where they can look at a piece and relate to it themselves, which is something we don’t get to do often in the media.
I really like the idea of this project. Giving the youth a platform to exhibit themselves is so important in a country where funding for the arts is lacking and we are in dire need of fresh creative talent. The broader theme of self-narration in relation to the city is also quite perfect for me. We are going through a time, not only in Johannesburg, but South Africa as a whole, where hate is running rampant, and I think this project could be used to bring a mirror to the behavior and actions we are constantly being bombarded with via the media.”
Doodle by Jéad Stehr
Seth Pimentel @african_ginger
“My name is Seth Pimentel.
I’m a 22 year old illustrator and visual artist.
I was born and raised in the city of gold, Johannesburg.
My art comes from a side of me I don’t like. It stems from my own self deprecating thoughts. Sometimes your greatest motivation is your own self hatred. I know that’s rather macabre, but sometimes pain is the greatest catalyst of growth. I illustrate, so I draw whatever I feel and whatever I think flows from me. It’s in itself is my own therapy.
I’m a young artist in my city; I fall into the category of the youth. This is our month, and this is our opportunity to create together. We learn and love from our collective creativity shared.”
Doodle by Seth Pimentel
Cahil Sankar @cahil
“My Name is Cahil Sankar, and I’m a 19 year old Photographer from Johannesburg. I started taking photos from a very young age, and found that it was one of the few things I could not stop doing. Having severe ADHD, I was surprised at how something as simple as picking up an old point and shoot camera, could suddenly quieten my mind. Photography allowed me a stillness that I hadn’t ever experienced before.
My mom worked for the ANC’s intelligence structures during the Apartheid era, and I feel that that has strongly influenced my political ideas as well as the images I am drawn to capture. Through my photography, I aim to hopefully, portray honest and vulnerable narratives and emotions of my subject matter. I feel that being able to observe other peoples’ stories, has allowed me to shape my own narrative as a person of colour in our society. Having the creative freedom to interact with so many different people, I have come to realise how important creativity and the arts are, in terms of youth self-empowerment.
South Africa has a large number of talented youth, and because of this I feel incredibly privileged to have been given this opportunity to work in collaboration with some brilliant young artists. Thank you Bubblegum Club.”
Doodle by Cahil Sankar
Mariam Petros @disorganizedgoat
Mariam Ekaterini Petros, born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Inspired by artists like Tretchikoff, Kahlo and Dali. Petros is on the path of discovering her individual style. She works predominately with ink but practices with a variety of mediums. She attended the National School of the Arts. Petros participated in the Youth Arts Massif Exhibition in 2016 at the King Kong Building in Johannesburg. Petros is currently a tattoo apprentice at the Emerald Rain Tattoo Parlor and is studying Printmaking at The Artist Proof Studio.
“I’m drawn to the project in a sense that I find it difficult to display my art on platforms other than on social media, with a disadvantage of being a part of the youth art culture, this project forms an opportunity that creates a platform for youth artists. I’m especially interested in this project in particular as it is based in the CBD which I’ve grown up in and have always had a love/hate relationship with. I’m looking forward to exploring the different tasks that come with this project and being able to collaborate with fellow young artists.”
Doodle by Mariam Petros
Abi & Claire Meekel @meek.meekier.meekest
“The Meëk journey began 2 years ago. Meek is ultimately a movement and a social experiment to see how many people will follow and be inspired by what Meëk does. We love working together with other artists to expand this movement. It will be interesting to see how meek can collaborate with some of the artists in the Bubblegum project.
I’m eager to use the given space as a medium to expand Meëk as a sort of progressive installation. This meaning that both Claire and I have discussed that we will do several illustrations, paintings, prints, small sculptures that merge into the space, so that it becomes a small little world that the viewers can partake in. We will definitely photograph and document our progress on social media so that our audience can grasp our context and creative process. The idea is that we inspire youth to create their own art. Show people that we are young artists ready to create and speak to the world, and that we are not confined by the existing art world. There aren’t limitations; we are in an infinite dimension.
A little bit about Meëk:
We have a list of mediums we work with some of which include animation, illustration, film, embroidery, sculptures, installations, design, graffiti, fashion and painting. It is interesting to work with different mediums because it also allows us to explore and progress. A valuable concept in the existence of Meëk is that it travels through different forms and dimensions which embodies the main concept. Meëk is our left foot. It’s a part of us but it isn’t everything. It is not who we individually are as artists. Meek simply is; a collaboration, a part of the two of us. We still have a few more worlds to show you.
Sound and Photography are important mediums that I often experiment with but I mostly work with these mediums outside of Meëk, individually.”
I interviewed twin sisters Abigail and Claire Meekel about the playful and mischievous illustrations they create under the name Meëk.
Tell our readers about you and your creative practice?
Claire Meekel: I work with my twin sister Abigail Meekel to create ‘Meëk’. The way we come up with ideas is always spontaneous and comes out of nowhere. The thing that makes it special is if one of us gets inspired by a stupid idea and then we go off on a tangent where more ideas develop. We bounce off one another. I would say I am more into photography and animations. I have always had a fascination to reveal hidden things in trees, corners or buildings with a camera.
Abigail Meekel: I just pick up a pen or a pencil, when I’m anxious, bored, inspired, in class, on a roof, at dinner, at this bar called Kitcheners, upside down, under the bed, in a bath, on the loo, at home affairs, during an exam, while I drive and often in my dreams.
How did the journey for Meëk begin?
Officially I would say the Meëk journey began 2.333 years ago in Amsterdam right after our experience in Berlin. Meëk is a movement that is formed by a collaboration between Claire Meekel and Abigail Meekel but we love working together with other artists to expand the movement. We are excited to work with this up-and-coming artist called Kayla Armstrong, although this collaboration isn’t really ‘Meëk’. It’s 3 young artists coming together. We are having an exhibition at The Room in Maboneng soon. The exhibition is a collaboration with Kayla Armstrong and Meëk. We are planning to exhibit paintings and installations, and we want to come up with creative and interesting ways of advertising the exhibition. The exhibition will be at the end of October.
Expand on the idea of Meëk as a movement.
Have you ever had an itch behind your eye? Not a twitch but an itch. Is there this thought that thumps at the back of your mind? One you’re unwilling to share for the fear that you might be fucked up. Fetish. The truth is that it’s a sensation triggered by an unfamiliar fixation and it resides in us all. The lie is that all those sensations are psychologically similar. Detail is within everyone, the thoughts they hide and the fetish they mask. Meëk reveals this all – extracting the truth by peeling the plastic faces one painful strip at a time. The embarrassment is eliminated ever so subtly but always embodying a beautiful crass. We filter fetish through yellow and blue. Red or green. White, black, orange or whatever hue we desire. It’s in this action that Meëk reveals the unfettered truth of characters in an attempt at a society where judgment becomes void and acceptance reigns King. Meëk parallels that which you are shy about to the complex hidden by the person walking next to you. Or even shitting in the stall next door. This gross illumination is our fetish. – written by Cassidy Matthysen
How do you like to describe your work?
Nonsenses.
Tell our readers about some of the work you have done. What are some of the projects you have created or been a part of?
We have worked on a few music videos through animating and painting backdrops. The music video that we worked on was for a band called We Are Charlie. We are busy working on a few exhibitions around South Africa, most of which are showcasing animations and prints on paper. We also design posters for events and paint murals on walls.
What are you working on at the moment? What can we expect from you this year?
This year we are working on some fashion things, as well as more exhibitions incorporating installation art and music videos. We will collaborate with some incredible young artists and continue leaving our mark everywhere we go.
Anything else you would like to tell our readers about you and your work?
There are definitely some Meëk drawings around the world that people haven’t discovered yet. They could hide in a corner or even under a table or on the hidden side of a rock on a mountain…
To keep up with their work and possibly get some clues about where their undiscovered drawings are, check them out on Facebook and Instagram.
