1-54 London: Booth S22

Richard Saltoun Gallery will present a group stand with works by Bertina Lopes (1924 - 2012, Maputo, Mozambique), Malangatana Ngwenya (1936 - 2011, Matalana, Mozambique), Berni Searle (1964, Cape Town, South Africa), Everlyn Nicodemus (1954, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania), Huda Lutfi (1948, Cairo, Egypt) and Jan Wade (1952, Ontario, Canada). 

The highlight of our presentation will be Searle’s pivotal work, Traces (1999). The installation comprises 6 digital prints on vellum, each suspended from the ceiling, cascading down to touch the floor. The suspended prints are linked by a floor-based installation of spices: ground cloves, paprika and turmeric. These spices were key exports of the Dutch East Indies Company, who used Cape Town as a stopover on their journey back to Europe. Searle covers her body with these spices, critiquing the Dutch East Indies exploitation of South Africa’s people, natural resources, and economy. In Traces Searle places a scale below each image, seen to be measuring the varying quantities of spices in a bowl.