PRESENTATION: Dineo Seshee Raisibe Bopape-(ka) pheko ye

Dineo Seshee Raisibe Bopape is a South African multimedia artist. 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, her artwork “engages with powerful socio-political notions of memory, narration and representation.

By Efi MIchalarou
Photo: Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst Archive

Using natural materials and audio-visual media, Dineo Seshee Raisibe Bopape recalls untold, forgotten and repressed stories. Through the visitor‘s journey within the exhibition “(ka) pheko ye” (the dream to come), Bopape prompts reflection on what must be recollected, restored or reclaimed from loss, displacement or oblivion. Bopape stimulates all the senses with a dream- activating room scent and a herbal tea, inviting visitors to smell, taste, hear, see, feel and dream. In dreaming, the artist explores the connections between the suppressed and fragmented parts of the self and life. The journey through the exhibition is a reference to a visit to a dream temple, and can be seen as a map through a process leading to an antidote. The title of the exhibition, “(ka) pheko ye”, can be translated from sePedi, Dineo’s mother tongue to, “(with) this remedy / treatment process’”, a remedy that can address both physical and immaterial matters.  In preparation for the exhibition, the artist immersed herself in forests, land and waters, in stories of African rain-makers, and in the world of dreams. Bopape has also been visiting various European museums that hold African artefacts, and those of other Indigenous peoples from around the world. With a particular interest in those of her region of birth that speak of Indigenous relationships with nature, she explores the processes of recovery of those artefacts and, in particular, of what they embody. The second part of the exhibition title speaks of possibilities within the dream realm – “a dream to come”. In a dream state, different realities can interact compared to what one allows in the conscious waking state – a freer form of knowledge-production takes place. There are leaps in time and connections between different places. These connections also appear in myths and in nature. For example, the myths of the mountain dragons exist not only on Mount Pilatus in Switzerland, but also in the Drakensberg (Dragon Mountains) in South Africa. Nature stores ancient knowledge in the mountains, for example: The Matterhorn not only lies on the African plate in terms of plate tectonics, it was also actually formed from it. This has implications for geo-imaginations and draws a different map of the world. Bopape delves into constellations of collective memories and locates the self within this complex constellation. In doing so, it becomes clear how we relate to the countless small events that exist simultaneously in the universe. This is how we develop as individuals and as a society. The self is like a river, constantly in motion, influenced by and influencing the surrounding landscape and without a fixed endpoint. Bopape draws in her work from Indigenous African architectural forms of the courtyard. These spaces are very common in warm climates where living both indoors and outdoors is commonplace. Called lapa in the seTswana language, they are in-between spaces that connect the inside and the outside. They are traditionally spaces for communal gathering, or possible working areas, and, here they designate different spaces for various processes including contemplation and rest, as well as being a ‘whole zone’: a place that does not quite fit into the ‚given ‘material world, where time moves at a different pace and ‘new worlds’ can happen. These architectural forms act as vessels that hold individuals and the community, and echo the forms of the feminine. Similarly, for Bopape, flower shapes are embodiments of the ‘female/ female principle’ throughout various times. These motifs are recurring elements in Bopape’s work and have their roots in the stories of her biological and collective grandmothers and what they lived through as agents of various historical periods. The name of her grandmother, Raisibe enters the exhibition as a way to acknowledge the one who came before. Bopape ‘s works explore her fascination with soil as a repository of memories and potentialities. From walls and domes to geometric carpets and floral forms, soil takes on diverse manifestations within her work, including our collective connection to the nurturing essence of Earth. In “(Ka) pheko ye…” / (earth to dreamy stick soup), Bopape projects a film onto a stone filled with water and herbs, evoking Indigenous healing practices while creating a sensory experience of light, image and natural elements. An-other installation, “diNaledi”, features a daylight projector casting the shadow of a star anise on the wall, symbolising the interplay between the microcosm and the cosmos. Through these works, Bopape invites viewers to engage in a playful exploration of possibilities, encouraging them to enter a realm of daydreaming and imagination. One recurring motif in her work is the pine tree, which stretches from the ground towards the sky. Pinecones have been interpreted by various cultures as symbolic of the pineal gland, an organ sometimes referred to as the «third eye» due to its historical and spiritual associations. Inspired by dreams, Bopape collaborated with Frantsila herb farm to create a tea infused with blackcurrant leaf, small-flowered mullein, heather, rosemary, rye malt and hops, available to drink in the exhibition. Captivated by the unique scent of rain in Africa, the artist has developed a room fragrance for the exhibition that triggers a dreaming state in visitors. Combining dark, grounding notes of tar and tall pine with clarifying rosemary, soothing lavender and dream-inducing thyme and rue, the scent invites restful sleep and evokes memories and dreams. Experiences and memories can be shared in the Caring Space on the ground floor, where collective dreams are nurtured.

Photo: Dineo Seshee Raisibe Bopape, (Raisibe dreaming): flowers and light, flowers and light, 2023, Coloured LED-lightning, 3 + 2ap, Dimension variable, © Dineo Seshee Raisibe Bopape, courtesy the artist and Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst

Info: Curator: Nadia Schneider Willen, Curatorial assistant: Louisa Behr, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Limmatstrasse 270, Zürich, Switzerland, Duration: 8/6-8/9/2024, Days & Hours: Tue-Wed & Fri-Sun 11:00-18:00, Thu 11:00-20:00, https://migrosmuseum.ch/