South Africa: Artists Tell Stories of Heritage and Migration Using Surprising Materials

What the report says

At the Iziko South African National Gallery in Gardens, Cape Town, a new exhibition titled Matereality V2 is presenting more than 100 installations by 70 emerging and established artists. According to the GroundUp report distributed by AllAfrica, the show opened on Monday and is scheduled to run until June 2027. It is the second edition of the project, following an earlier version in 2020 that was interrupted by the pandemic.

The exhibition focuses on how material choice can shape meaning in contemporary African art. Artists have used unconventional and everyday substances such as soil, concrete, textiles, glitter and repurposed consumer goods. The works are said to explore themes including identity, history, land, ecology, heritage and migration, showing how creative practice can connect personal and social stories to the physical materials used in the artwork.

The programme note described the exhibition as returning on an unusually large scale to examine how substance drives meaning. More broadly, the display reflects a growing interest in African art that treats materials not just as tools, but as part of the message itself. For visitors, the exhibition offers a chance to see how artists are reworking familiar objects and industrial matter to address questions of belonging and environmental change.