Dineo Seshee Raisibe Bopape’s exhibition “(ka) pheko ye – the dream to come” opens in Kiasma on Friday

Bopape creates her works and installations with natural materials such as clay, soil, ash and plants but uses also manufactured items that we are intimately connected with. The materials are highly symbolic, referencing social, personal or material histories and actual geographic locations. Soil, in particular, is a key material. According to Southern African lore, minerals in stone are seen as repositories of memories and ancient wisdom. The female realm and the ‘feminine’ often play an important role in Bopape’s work as the source of life, renewal and dreaming.

Bopape went on several field trips in Finland when she was preparing the show. (ka) pheko ye – the dream to come draws upon the idea of dreaming as an activity that is common to all beings and allows one to connect with various timelines. During her stay in Hämeenkyrö, Bopape worked with experts on the Frantsila organic herb farm developing a fragrance and a tea blend for the exhibition that features dream-supporting herbs such as heather and hops. Alongside natural materials, Bopape also uses video, sound and lights in the exhibition.

In her practice, Bopape investigates re-membering as a conduit for consolidating one’s fragmented self through time. Bopape says she carries within her the memory of her ancestors: the phrase “(ka) pheko ye” in the title of the exhibition, a reference to a journey with a medicinal directive, is in sePedi, her mothertongue.

The exhibition is curated by João Laia, chief curator of temporary exhibitions at Kiasma. It is produced in collaboration with Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Zurich.

Artist’s biography

Dineo Seshee Raisibe Bopape (b. 1981, Polokwane, South Africa) lives in Johannesburg. She has recently had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2023), Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan (2022), Ocean Space in Venice (2022) and Secession in Vienna (2022). In 2019, she was one of the artists who represented South Africa at the Venice Biennale. Among Bopape’s accolades is the Future Generation Art Prize, which she was awarded in 2017.

Dineo Seshee Raisibe Bopape  
(ka) pheko ye – the dream to come  
6.10.2023–25.2.2024