Deutsche Bank (DB) has announced Kemang Wa Lehulere as its new “Artist of the Year” 2017 on the recommendation of the Deutsche Bank Global Art Advisory Council which consists of the renowned curators Okwui Enwezor, Hou Hanru, Udo Kittelmann, and Victoria Noorthoorn. The Johannesburg-based South African artist will present his first institutional solo exhibition in Germany at the Deutsche Bank KunstHalle in Berlin in spring 2017.Wa Lehulere works both individually and collaboratively, with his solo practice spanning performance, video, installation, and chalk drawings. Drawing on black South African history to explore issues of racism, injustice, and what DB describes as “the gap between individual biography and official historiography,” his work often revisits the narratives of black artists, musicians, and authors whose work and stories he aims to keep from being forgotten.“Kemang Wa Lehulere is a refined artist of the highest order. He explores the relevance of the artistic gesture in post-Apartheid South Africa. In his wall drawings, collages, and complex performances, he revisits his own history and the pain of his society by creating poignant images that are never literal or explanatory, but are instead a territory to be traversed, understood, and revealed”, explains Victoria Noorthoorn, Director Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires.
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