Bag Factory Artists’ Studios is delighted to announce ‘Ditshwantsho, Dipalo, Digopotso’, the debut solo exhibition by Refiloe Namise, a dynamic artist whose practice weaves together archive, performance, and site-specific interventions. Running from August 17 to September 7, 2024, this exhibition-in-progress reflects Namise’s deep engagement with the complex histories of Alexandra, Johannesburg, offering a layered exploration of memory, community, and the function of archives in preserving knowledge and culture
As this year’s recipient of the prestigious David Koloane Award, Namise brings a unique approach to her research, presenting re-placed archival prints, digital photographs, videos, live performances, and readings in an Open Studio format. The exhibition title, ‘ditshwantsho, dipalo, digopotso’, translates to “images, readings, reminders” in Setswana, a reflection of Namise’s intent to emphasize the fluidity of memory and history. Uncapitalised, the words underscore their existence within broader contexts, inviting visitors to reflect on the shifting meanings and interpretations of history through the lens of time and space.
At the heart of Namise’s work is the township of Alexandra, a historically rich area in Johannesburg. Her project re-members and re-articulates significant moments in the township’s broader narrative. By engaging with specific sites in Alex, she revisits the everyday lives, protests, and conversations that form the fabric of its history. Through re-placement, Namise brings fragments of the archive back into conversation with the community, questioning institutionalized methods of recording and preserving history.
One of the core themes of the exhibition is the relationship between the Studio, the Archive, and the Site. Namise juxtaposes the Alex Heritage Community Centre, a symbol of governmental neglect, with the Jukskei River, representing collective healing and redemption. These sites are woven together in her work to reflect on how communities reclaim their histories, questioning official narratives while foregrounding their own lived experiences. By utilizing photocopies of newspaper clippings from the Wits Historical Papers Research Archive alongside videos of her onsite interventions, Namise disrupts the perceived authority of the archive, suggesting alternative modes of remembering.
Throughout the exhibition, Namise’s Open Studio practice blurs the line between artwork and research. Visitors to the gallery (Monday to Friday, 10:00 – 15:00) will have the opportunity to witness the artist actively engaging with images, archival materials, and remembrances, creating a participatory and evolving narrative. Namise’s primary tools are experimentation and intuition, allowing her work to come to life in real time, through interactions with both the public and the community of Alexandra. Her live performances will unfold in three parts:
- 1. Saturday, 17th August – “Ways of Remembering: A Lecture Performance” (13:00 – 15:00)
Namise will present a lecture-performance where she unpacks the ways in which memory, history, and site-specificity converge in her work, offering a space for reflection on the fluid nature of remembrance. - 2. Saturday, 31st August – “When I was Thirsty My Tongue Tasted Dust: A Streaming from the Jukskei River” (13:00 – 15:00)
A live-streamed performance directly from the Jukskei River, where Namise explores the symbolic power of the river as a site of collective healing, juxtaposed with the challenges of contemporary life in Alex. - 3. Saturday, 7th September – “Speaking Truth to Power: A Screening, Reading, and Offering” (16:00 – 18:00)
A closing event where Namise offers a final screening and reading, coupled with a live performance that interrogates the notion of reclaiming histories in the face of institutional failure.
Through ‘ditshwantsho, dipalo, digopotso’, Namise not only draws attention to the failures of the State but also illuminates the persistence of communities in making and sharing knowledge. By situating her practice outside the confines of formal archives, Namise’s work resonates with the ongoing struggles for autonomy, belonging, and representation in marginalized communities. The exhibition also serves as a call to action, asking us to reconsider how histories are written, stored, and reinterpreted in the present.
Visitors are encouraged to engage directly with Namise’s evolving work in the Open Studio throughout the exhibition period. For more information, please visit Bag Factory Artists’ Studios.
