Local artistry takes centre stage at the Nando’s Creative Exchange exhibition in Gqeberha

The vibrant city of Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape will host four exceptional local talents in a group Nando’s Creative Exchange show, each with their own unique artistic style and perspective, from an exploration of racial identity, through experiments with media and tools, to ‘slices of life’. The four are brought together by the Spier Arts Trust and Nando's. 

Mellaney Roberts, a contemporary ceramicist hailing from Willowmore, a small town in the Eastern Cape, explores the coloured racial identity and its absence from many recorded histories through sculptural forms that delve into the ambiguity of being defined as racially mixed and hybrid. In her ceramic sculptures that depict ‘the fluid shift of borders’, she explores how our identity transforms as we experience various spaces.

Born in Tembisa, Gauteng, versatile visual artist Mpho Machate works across various mediums, aiming to communicate his physical expression of thought and the perception of the world around him. His focus lies in self-development and the ‘realisation of infinite creation’.

A Gqeberha native, Robyn Munich specialises in mixed-media installations that serve as a visual and aesthetic representation of her conceptual underpinnings, addressing trauma and loss. This unconventional approach enables Munnick to experiment with a variety of media and tools to explore ‘endless possibilities’.

Cape Town-based artist and multitalented creative Tharien Smith works with a variety of mediums, including photography, digital collage, acrylic paint and textiles. Smith, whose latest body of work celebrates the female form, with an emphasis on sensuality, sexuality and complexity, describes herself as ‘an observer giving the viewer a slice of life, a series of certain profound moments that I choose to reveal’.

The Spier Arts Trust, committed to nurturing creativity and supporting the local art community, has been collaborating with Nando’s on the Nando’s Creative Exchange since 2011, each year identifying Southern African fine artists who demonstrate exceptional ability and offering a career development opportunity. This latest show runs from 7 December 2023 to 30 January 2024 at GFI Art Gallery. For more information, visit gfiartgallery.com.