NWU Gallery Exhibition Showcases Emerging Voices Exploring Sovereignty And Identity

Exhibition title: Repair of the presentOpening date: 20 May 2026 at 18:00Closing date: 24 July 2026Venue: NWU Gallery (North-West University, Building F16G, Hoffman Street, Potchefstroom. 2530)Featured artists: Abongile Sidzumo, Bulumko Mbete, Cassian Robbertze, Dimakatso Mathopa, Henrico Greyling, Luyanda Zindela, Neo Theku, Omolemo Rammile, Rohini Amratlal, Sphephelo Mnguni and Thalente KhomoCurated by Sheryl Msomi

In contemporary South African youth culture, sovereignty emerges as a negotiated condition that is formed from the self and the collective, that exists between personal identity and histories that cannot be disowned. To be sovereign in this context is not to escape inheritance, but to decide how it is carried, transformed, or resisted. If the youth of 1976 contested the classroom, then fifty years later the artists brought together in Repair of the present contest the archive. They question who gets to keep culture, who tells the story, and how memory must be handled.

In Repair of the present, sovereignty is asserted through control over visibility, narration, and access, including the refusal to be fully legible even within a history that demands constant testimony. Domestic labour, indigenous knowledge, and mobility surface as collective memories sustained not through monuments or official archives, but through repetition and use.

Sovereignty here resides in self-invention and accepting responsibility for sustaining what has been inherited, often invisibly, often undervalued. This exhibition marks the beginning of an ongoing curatorial inquiry into what it means to be a sovereign being and offers an initial proposition for what sovereign culture might look like in a highly interconnected and distracted world.

About the NWU Gallery

The NWU Gallery, based at North-West University in Potchefstroom, the university’s creative haven that nurtures curiosity and interconnectivity. A dynamic cultural space dedicated to showcasing contemporary art and fostering critical dialogue. Committed to supporting emerging and established artists, the gallery serves as a platform for diverse voices and creative practices that engage with social, cultural, and philosophical themes. Through exhibitions, educational programmes, and community initiatives, the NWU Gallery promotes accessibility to the arts and encourages meaningful connections between artists, audiences, and ideas.

The NWU Gallery can be located at North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, Building F16G, 11 Hoffman Street, Potchefstroom, 2531. Look for the grey building with the red roof.

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