Sue Williamson and Lebohang Kganye at the Barnes Foundation in ArtThrob
A review by Anna Stielau
Tell Me What You Remember, a joint exhibition by artists Sue Williamson and Lebohang Kganye at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a sensitive meditation on the promise – and limits – of intergenerational dialogue in South Africa. For both artists, the role of interpersonal communication in memory formation is a major thematic and a formal conceit, although they engage that question from distinctly different positionalities and generational vantage points. With a career spanning more than five decades, Williamson’s work has long maintained a focus on imperfect modes of relaying and reconstructing the past, from the transcripts of TRC hearings in Truth Games (1998) to the challenge of matrilineal transmission in recent video installations like What Is This Thing Called Freedom? (2016). As a white woman whose creative life is rooted in anti-apartheid activism, her practice has transformed with the country, locating memory variously in contexts of violence, resistance and, increasingly, loss.
In key respects, contemporary South African life is defined by intergenerational disjuncture. That’s partly an artifact of official periodisations – ‘born-frees,’ ‘the post-apartheid’ – that prematurely bracket the past and create social distance. It’s also the unavoidable result of a divided society. Every day, frustrated young people face down devastating inequality and limited opportunities against the backdrop of a warming world. Globally speaking, social media has taken its own toll on kinship ties, making it easier to criticise the perceived moral failings of our elders or children. Dismissive memes like “Ok Boomer” reduce complex conflicts to a set of buzzwords so predictable there are bingo cards, circumscribing the kinds of conversations we can have about collective responsibility, reciprocity and change.