For the 2nd edition of the @makwande_art_residency we invited South African multidisciplinary visual artist Lesego Seoketsastudio to Mandelieu La Napoule in the South of France.
Seoketsa’s residency began with her seeking to expand her series ‘Amacici’, a Nguni word for ‘earrings’. The series aimed at exploring one of Seoketsa’s repressed childhood longings for adornment and beautification discouraged in her religious upbringing. In dressing her expressionist characters with striking, larger-than-life accessories, she confronted the dogma of modesty and the patriarchal policing of women’s self-expression through dress. It was also an ode to the township women she grew up admiring, who despite unimaginable challenges, asserted their inherent dignity and identity through personal style. This work, transplanted into the French Mediterranean context, takes to new depths.
Set on the coast of Mandelieu La Napoule, the Makwande Art Residency apartment lays at the mercy of a sea as blue as the sky. Promenading along the French Riviera in the spring is a feast for the senses. Medleys of wild, blooming flowers accent terraces, purple bougainvillea hug doorposts, and tip-over balconies. The flowers have much to teach in their determination to adorn life despite the elements or obstacles. Seoketsa sees their essence, and the full embodiment of their purpose – to simply be. The wildlife has thawed and is abuzz, in symphony with a basking accordionist. Streams of people meander past each other, dining leisurely in cafes, at ease. In this cosmic collision of the Mediterranean’s nature and culture, a new colour palette, reminiscent of 70’s art, emerges.
In this short film produced by @fromthebayfrance
and directed by @mrradulovic, Lesego takes us through her personally lived experiences of her stay in France.
We would like to thank our sponsors @flightlg1 for supporting us.
Makwande
