Amadoda on the Verge…[1835-2025] by Athi-Patra Ruga

Amadoda on the Verge… [1835-2025] is a new series of works set in the bold rouge cube at BKhz Gallery in Rosebank. In this new art exhibition, Ruga continues the creative discourse around myth-making and martial elements as a contemporary response to the colonial history of the Eastern Cape.

A creative anthology of the Eastern Cape’s martial heritage

The works on shows feature a series of portraits that probe the continued influence of historical tropes on performativity, agency, and representations of black masculinities. There are lone avatars of Ruga’s Frontier on the verge of something curious or uncharted. The artist is fascinated with the uneasiness of the frontier both as a physical and psychological limit and a threshold of new opportunities and experiences.

Inspired by diverse historical flash points like the Crimean War, the messianic prophecies of Ntsikana and Mangconde, sightings of Halley’s Comet, and the publication of Frankenstein, Ruga draws on the Neo-Gothic sensibility prevalent in the architecture and literature of the frontier period and the sombre atmosphere of the contemporary Eastern Cape.

The artist’s notes on Amadoda on the Verge…[1835-2025]

“In this new body of luscious and layered paintings, I welcome you to a part-speculative, part-historical frontier in which complex notions of collaboration and conflict between settler and native, colonizer and colonized are reflected in the sartorial choices of my avatars,” reflects Athi Patra Ruga on Amadoda on the Verge… [1835-2025].

“The decay and ruin of the memorials and military forts in my native Eastern Cape has drawn my attention to a lapse in our collective memory. It has awakened my need to revisit the geography of the South African colonial frontier and explore the military fort as a microcosm of frontier encounters.

The Eastern Cape, which was a fiercely contested battleground, indicates a significant collective loss and has prompted me to offer up a counter-narrative to eulogize that which has been overlooked and omitted.”

Need to know before you go

When: Running until 9 November 2024. Monday to Friday, 10:30am to 5pm. Saturday, 10:30am to 3pm
Where: BKhz Gallery, 19 Keyes Ave, Rosebank, Johannesburg

Website: bkhz.art
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: @Bkhz1
Instagram: @bkhz