Nel Gallery is widely known for its support of South African artists and the promotion of their visibility on the local and international art stage. This spring, the gallery is especially proud to present a new solo exhibition by Joachim Schönfeldt, an established artist, researcher, curator, and art advisor. The upcoming exhibition, which is dedicated to the power of the vernacular, will open at Nel Gallery on April 3 and will run through April 25, 2025.
The Power of the Vernacular: Language as a Medium
The new exhibition by Joachim Schönfeldt, titled “Die Segoed van Maria en Martha James” (“The Sayings of Maria and Martha James”), offers a unique esthetic experience of embracing the cultural role and power of the vernacular. As the name suggests, Schönfeldt invites the viewers to explore the Cape vernacular sayings voiced by two domestic workers he used to know in Namibia in the 1960s-1970s. Maria and Martha were twin sisters from Upington in the Northern Cape. The women named themselves “Coloureds,” thus denoting their belonging to a specific ethnicity. Their sayings shared with a young boy reflected the deeply seated subversive attitudes toward colonial rulers, social hierarchy, and established roles.
In this series of works, Schönfeldt uses text as the primary imagery for cultural exploration. The sayings are presented as hand engravings on varnished marine plywood and hand-printed graphic works, both made using the Prestige Elite font to share the power of the vernacular recorded by the artist at a young age. Simple, short texts open a universe of complex, subversive interpretations to a careful viewer, unlocking a secret door to the appropriation of colonial trauma.
About Joachim Schönfeldt
Joachim Schönfeldt was born in South Africa and raised in Namibia. After growing up, the artist returned to his place of birth and received a degree in fine art from the University of Witwatersrand. He started his career in art at Meneghelli Holdings, where he worked as an advisor, curator, and researcher specializing in old African art. Schönfeldt decided to dedicate all time to art in 1988; he set up a studio in Johannesburg in 1991 after spending a couple of years in Italy.
Schönfeldt is widely famous for his signature vision of authentic African iconography and traditional art themes. His paintings, prints, and sculptures have been featured at many group and solo exhibitions around the world, including in New York, San Francisco, Paris, Berlin, Lisbon, and Copenhagen. Works by Joachim Schönfeldt were also presented at the Venice Biennale in 1993 and 2015.