PREVIEW: Dineo Raisibe Bopape Seshee-The Dream To Come
Dineo Raisibe Bopape Seshee is an artist who lives and works in Johannesburg. She is known for her use of soil and other organic material as a base for multisensory, multidimensional work that connects deeply with the earth. In addition to her packed earth installations, Seshee Bopape also works with drawing, video, and sound to create a rich practice connecting to memory, belonging, and place.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Kiasma Museum Archive
The work of Dineo Raisibe Bopape Seshee is characterized by the use of organic and highly symbolic materials that allude to the concepts of memory, identity, and belonging. Soil is one of the most recognizable materials in her practice, and it is often mixed with other substances such as coal, ash, and clay to create environmental installations. Taking as a starting point her own experience in her homeland, South Africa, Seshee Bopape weaves narratives that investigate archetypes and myths in which the female figure plays a central role. Combining digital and analogical aesthetics, her work incorporates different media, like sculpture, drawing, video and sound, through a poetic approach that has its origins in matter. In preparation for her exhibition “(ka) pheko ye – the dream to come”, Bopape (b. 1981, Polokwane, South Africa) takes inspiration from her recent time spent immersed in the rural municipality of Hämeenkyrö, where she learned about traditional herbs and medicinal plants while visiting sites such as bogs, landfills, forests and petroglyphs. Many of the organic materials she encountered – such as clay, soil, ash and plants – are incorporated and evoked in the works throughout the exhibition, including an expansive mural made of sprayed clay and stencilled around the entire wall of the gallery. For Bopape these materials are highly symbolic, referencing concepts of identity as well as the history and geographic locations of Finland. In particular, Bopape’s exhibition draws upon the idea of dreaming as a state that connects humans to memories and other forms of life, as well as realms of spirituality and healing: the phrase ‘(ka) pheko ye’ in the title of the exhibition refers in Sepedi (the language of her grandmother) to ‘antidote’. During her stay in Hämeenkyrö, Bopape worked with experts on the Frantsila organic herb farm to develop a fragrance and a tea blend containing dream-promoting herbs such as heather and hops. This scent will be diffused throughout the gallery space and available in the Kiasma shop along with the tea, carrying the experience of the exhibition beyond the walls of the museum. Other installations will include circular and domed structures that provide enclosed, shared spaces for contemplation and offer a ceramic pillow for visitors to relax and daydream. These structures will be layered with mud from the lakes in the countryside of Finland, where the artist engaged in wild swimming. Soil is a recurring and crucial material in Bopape’s practice, alluding to concepts of fertility, life and renewal, with minerals in stone also seen as repositories of memories and ancient wisdom according to southern African lore. Alongside organic materials, Bopape’s installations will also comprise light, sound and a video work, which will be projected through a large bowl of water: a poetic juxtaposition of contemporary media with natural elements. The pinkish hue of forget-me-not flowers – another dream-inducing plant native to Hämeenkyrö – will also cast an atmospheric glow in the exhibition space, as Bopape creates subtly immersive experiences of Finnish nature through a series of sensory, physical and imaginative states.
Photo: Dineo Seshee Raisibe Bopape, Photo: Frantsila / Miki Tokairin / Miisa Soini
Info: Curator João Laia, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Mannerheiminaukio 2, Helsinki, Finland Duration: 6/10/2023-6/2/2024, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 10:00-20:30, Sat 10:00-18:00, Sun 10:00-17:00, https://kiasma.fi/
