Lawrence Lemaoana

Lawrence Lemaoana

Born in Johannesburg in 1982. Lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Lawrence Lemaoana critically engages with mass media in present-day South Africa. Seeing the relationship between media and the ‘people’ as inherently problematic, he identifies and repurposes existing control apparatuses using his trademark cynicism. Lemaoana’s embroidered works are emblazoned with appropriated political dictums woven in kanga fabric – a material with its own complex ancestry. Here, Lemaoana wages criticism on the agency of local media, and its ability to shape social consciousness: the result turns didactic and propagandistic tools on their head.

In residence at La Cité des Arts in Paris as early as 2005, he regularly exhibits in France, most notably in the context of memorable
exhibitions at Fondation Louis Vuitton, La Maison Rouge – Antoine de Galbert Foundation, MAC-VAL, Les abattoirs, Toulouse but also in the United States, Norway, Italy, and of course, in South Africa, at the IZIKO South African National Gallery and Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa.

His work features in prominent local and international collections, including Sindika Dokolo Fondation, Luanda, IZIKO South African National Gallery , Cape Town, Louis Vuitton Fondation, Paris, Lafayette Anticipation, Paris, Collection Léridon, Paris…

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