Bubblegum Club

Tag: Robyn Kater

  • Robyn Kater: the intersection between history, identity and the city as a living organism

    Robyn Kater is a bold, passionate and multifaceted artist who is deeply inspired by the city of Johannesburg and all those who live within it. She views her home city, Johannesburg as the compelling and rich space that has greatly influenced her personal identity as well as artwork. The 23-year-old freelance artist, who recently graduated from WITS University with her Fine Art degree, relates her journey as that of self-discovery, learning and unlearning as well as one of trial and error.

    The use of Johannesburg as Robyn’s leading inspiration has motivated her to produce a powerful body of work titled, ‘Toxic Playground’. Robyn describes ‘Toxic Playground’ as a mixed media installation that comprises of photography, video and found objects through which she examines how the Johannesburg mine dumps become palimpsests of personal memory and toxicity. The ‘Toxic Playground’ installation consists of 100kg of sand which was collected over three months from the Riverlea mine dump – this is of significant sentiment to Robyn as she grew up in the community situated right next to the dump.

    ‘Toxic Playground’ is emblematic of the socio-economic and environmental issues currently facing the residents of the area, and essentially speaks to the community’s concerns. This is because the city’s mine dumps have been normalized to be included in the community’s everyday landscape, yet they are severely toxic. They symbolize the exploitative deep-rooted nature of the city. Robyn’s body of artwork raises important questions that require effective answers such as: “what should be done with remnants of the city’s division post-conflict, post-apartheid state? What influence do memory and remembrance of these places have on transformation of the city’s spatial morphology (formation), identity and flows of everyday urban life?”.

    In all aspects of this work Robyn does the job of detecting the intersection between history, heritage, identity, displacement and space. Robyn eloquently expresses how she is “interested in the city as a living organism and how the tangible and intangible fragments meet and overlap to form a lived experience”. An in-depth interpretation of Robyn’s artwork demonstrates that she thinks of Johannesburg in various ways. She sees the city as a complex living organism in which certain spaces act as remnants of personal memory and of an overlapping history. In addition to this, her unique artwork illustrates a vivid relationship that the city of Johannesburg presents between space and identity.

    Robyn is open to collaborate with people outside of the art industry such as historians, architects and urban planners. She would also like to have to the opportunity to exhibit her work at more experimental spaces. Having showcased at Wits Art Museum, The Point of Order as well as Nothing Gets Organised and with the hopes of showcasing at Zeitz MOCAA someday, Robyn is truly one fearless trailblazer who is more than ready to get her message across.

  • Title in Transgression – The Beloved Departed and Symbolic Death

    Fragrant tendrils of smoke and echoes of musical melodies emit through an otherwise unmarked address. A corrugated iron door opens into an intimate space of symbolic death. Sliver flags catch glimmers of the florescent lights upon arrival. A space of mourning marked by corner-bound shrines – memorializing moments of a collective life. Freshly plucked roses adorn the metaphorical grave. Commemorating a moment, as Title in Transgression is laid to rest in this funeral procession.

    The collective initially was born out of a frustration and desire to engage with the political moment, articulated in the form of Fees Must Fall. The month-long micro-residency at project space, NGO (Nothing Gets Organised), allowed the young artists to engage with omnipresent issues outside of the confines of the institution. During this time Boitumelo Motau, Dineo Diphofa, Malebona Maphutse, Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Nyasha Nyandoro, Robyn Kater and Kyle Song were able to explore notions of access and the ‘role of the artist’ in moments of protest.

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    The thoughts and processes located in this space of production, were poignantly represented by the printed slogans lining the walls:

    Teacher don’t teach me nonsense

    Who polices the police

    Aluta continua

    The silk-screened printed white t-shirts donning bold font and bolder sentiments illustrated the immense sense of urgency felt and acted upon by the artists. In a myriad of ways, the creative process and mechanisms of exchange were used as strategies to think through the contextual crisis. The two-fold system of working with and simultaneously against socially symbolic conventions – as a form of critique – was present in the funeral service.

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    The congregation was nestled in make-shift pews of pine fold-up chairs while sounds of plucking percussion echoed in the background. The highly esteemed ‘pastor’ Motau was slightly late to the service. However, upon arrival, donning a paisley-esque bathrobe and bright orange sunglasses, he addressed those gathered with evangelical fervor. Motau expounded in poetic verse – speaking to the “metaphysical transformations” that this day of death brought with it. “Let your tears heal”, as he suggested to “stop looking up and starting looking within” as a means to deal with “this painful reality”.

    A proclamation – “[this] death is attributed to white supremacy” – was in some ways the crux of the sermon. An unapologetic calling-out of the over-arching system – imbedded in institutional spaces and beyond. “[This is] also our death”. The levels of profundity were layered and nuanced. After the service, multiple prayers, a witness of character and the rounds of a collection plate clinging with silver, a buffet of sustenance was served. The moment of mourning, for the loss of the collective, shifted during After Tears as celebratory clinks of Black Label bottles marked the birth of a new potential.

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