Thania Petersen: ZAMUNDA FOREVER

ZAMUNDA FOREVER, Thania Petersen’s first solo exhibition in the States, is divided into three bodies of intricately embroidered narrative textiles, covering her family’s history, their present-day life as seen from the outside, then finally portrayals of their familial dynamic in more personal settings. Juxtaposed against one another, the three series are an honest depiction of how the journey that brought the artist’s people to South Africa resulted in a separation of selves that exist symbiotically to construct a new cohesive and contemporary identity.

Rampie and Layer, 2023, and The Tide Spits, 2023, the two pieces that comprise the first body of work, speak of the artist’s ancestral routes that led her people to South Africa. Through symbols evocative of Sufi ceremonies and mythologies intrinsic to the culture, the textiles colorfully encompass tales of empire, forced migration across the Indian Ocean, the spice trade, royals, love, loss, and exiles of the past.

The second series cheekily toys with what Petersen calls the “Zamundafication” of Africa. (Zamunda is the fictional African nation from which Eddie Murphy’s character hails in the 1988 film Coming to America.) In these large-scale works, the artist reckons with the hyper-commercialization of her native continent, and the semi-truthfulness of the signifiers both Westerners and Africans use to market themselves to one another—her sons cosplay as Ninja Turtles, gorge themselves on fast food and candy, and sprint through themed waterparks dressed in Vans and Adidas. Specifically, the textiles challenge Hollywood stereotypes of Africa, and confront ideas both homegrown and imported from abroad that dictate what it means to be African.

The third group of works are comprised of smaller-scale, intimate portraits of Petersen’s family at home—sincere, touching moments of life behind closed doors, which could take place in any country or continent. Bicycle, 2023, Family, 2023, and Cake, 2023 are tender snapshots that would be at home in any family photo album. Petersen’s family is your family, her home is yours.

Taken together, ZAMUNDA FOREVER, like Petersen herself, embodies the plural histories, spiritualities, sonorities, and cultures of the Afrasiatic Sea. Also ever present: the universal and readily identifiable signs of a family and community that lives, laughs, and loves with one another.

— Ben Lee Ritchie Handler

Thania Petersen (b. 1980, Cape Town) is a multi-disciplinary artist who uses photography, performance and installation to address the intricacies and complexities of her identity in contemporary South Africa. Petersen’s reference points sit largely in Islam and in creating awareness about its religious, cultural and traditional practices. She attempts to unpack contemporary trends of Islamophobia through her analysis of the continuing impact of colonialism, European and American imperialism, and the increasing influence of right-wing ideologies. Threads in her work include the history of colonialist imperialism in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as well as the social and cultural impact of westernised consumer culture. Her work is also informed by her Cape Malay heritage, and the practice of Sufi Islamic religious ceremonies. Petersen studied at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art in London. She has held solo exhibitions at WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, the AVA, Cape Town and at the Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions both locally and abroad.

ZAMUNDA FOREVER is her first solo exhibition in the States. Recent exhibitions include Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest: 10 Years, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest (2023); 18th Venice Architecture Biennale (2023); Indigo Waves and other Stories, SAAVY Contemporary, Berlin (2023); Indigo Waves and other Stories, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town (2022–2023); Artists’ Film International (traveling), Whitechapel, London, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, and others (2022); Can We Sing Together, Old Friend?, 32 Bis, Tunis (2022, solo); Triennale Kleinplastic Fellbach: The Vibration of Things, Alte Kelter Fellbach, Fellbach (2022); Where Do I Begin, Stevenson, Cape Town (2022); KASSARAM, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town (2021, solo); Indian Ocean Craft Triennial: Curiosity and the Rituals of the Everyday, Fremantle, Australia (2021); Self-Addressed, curated by Kehinde Wiley, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles (2021); Un.e Air.e de Famille, Musée d’art et d’histoire Paul Eluard, Saint-Denis (2021); Between Land and a Raised Foot, National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, South Africa (2019, solo); Radical Love, Ford Foundation, New York (2019); and IQRA, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town (2019, solo). Her work is collected by the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.; Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA), Cape Town; IZIKO South African Museum, Cape Town; Pérez Art Museum, Miami; and many others.

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Los Angeles

August 5 – September 16, 2023

Press Release

Selected Works