{"id":2840,"date":"2021-04-23T15:49:10","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T15:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/?p=2840"},"modified":"2021-05-15T20:29:47","modified_gmt":"2021-05-15T20:29:47","slug":"vanillebleue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/vanillebleue","title":{"rendered":"Vanille Bleue – at Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Vanille Bleue <\/em>(2021)
\nGoodman Gallery, Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

Vanille Bleue<\/em> is a new body of work by Paul Maheke, drawing on journal entries made since July 2020 during lockdown in London. Part diary, part non-fiction, Maheke\u2019s journal is brought into the exhibition to drive the artist\u2019s reflections on vulnerability through drawing, text and sound. In particular, Maheke\u2019s use of drawing in the exhibition represents a continued shift in the artist\u2019s practice beyond primarily performance-based work.<\/p>\n

The title of the exhibition refers to a type of vanilla indigenous to L\u2019\u00cele de la Reunion, once home to Maheke\u2019s parents. Similar to the works on display, the exhibition\u2019s title offers viewers a context both poetic and political in nature. Maheke cites writers such as Audre Lorde and \u00c9douard Glissant for their use of poetry to \u201cplay on one of the most oppressive structures we have \u2013 language.\u201d Similarly, by incorporating text into the exhibition Maheke offers an additional voice for his works to communicate various meanings.<\/p>\n

Much of those meanings are rooted in Maheke\u2019s interest in the invisible, and sometimes very concrete forces that affect our bodies as well as our identities and how we experience ourselves. These forces comprise everything from the political and social understanding of our history, to more mystical and spiritual understandings, as well as the sonic and physical forces such as gravity that surround us.<\/p>\n

Beyond words, the materials used in the show are critical to conveying these ideas. Copper plates, for instance, serve as the surface for a series of colourful images formed through an oxidation process involving liver of sulphur. The unique properties of the copper, which allow for the work\u2019s image to form, extend to its therapeutic qualities used in alternative medicine as well as its ability to conduct electricity and heat. Light and sound are critical too in exploring ideas central to Maheke\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Similar to the presence of copper, deep bass frequencies played throughout the exhibition hold healing potential. Given the ability of sound frequencies to change the molecular structure of water, it is possible for that to extend to our bodies which are made up of 85% water.<\/p>\n

For Maheke, the embodied quality of both the sound and text component speaks to themes of trauma and in turn healing.
\n\u201cThe idea of conveying a narrative around violence and an act of violence over another body, knowing that the audience\/s will come to the space with a certain set of histories that are personal to them as well as their own cultural references, I think I\u2019m interested in how sound can also bring an element of communication through interaction with other bodies. [It\u2019s] something interesting in the context of Covid, as well as my own context producing this show from a distance. It\u2019s my way of reaching out to establish a form of touch, in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

_
\nExhibition views by Anthea Pokroy courtesy of Goodman Gallery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vanille Bleue (2021) Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg. Vanille Bleue is a new body of work by Paul Maheke, drawing on journal entries made since July 2020 during lockdown in London. Part diary, part non-fiction, Maheke\u2019s journal is brought into the exhibition to drive the artist\u2019s reflections on vulnerability through drawing, text and sound. In particular, Maheke\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-non-classe"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-content\/uploads\/AP_210419_011-icon.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4E7Fe-JO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2840"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2907,"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2840\/revisions\/2907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}