Guns & Rain

Thina Dube’s work has long explored identity politics in South Africa: he frequently references identity’s many layers, both visible and hidden, and its fluid qualities, constantly changing and responding to social environments. Often using his own skillfully crafted handmade paper, Thina has explored the politics of language in South Africa, and the ways in which individual identities are dramatically shaped by what languages they can or cannot speak.  In particular he is interested in English as means of control and manipulation in relation to indigenous South African languages.  Silhouettes step in and out of the subtle indentation spaces defined by printing, or sometimes linger on the border of that space.  

 

Thina’s solo exhibition opened 19th September 2018 in Johannesburg. Click here to view the catalogue.  Thina’s work was also exhibited at AKAA Paris 2018 – see the catalogue here.

 

Thina’s latest body of work for his solo exhibition reflects on how history is injected into contemporary identity politics to create a particular sense of unbroken temporality. He highlights the sense of societal post-traumatic stress disorder in postapartheid South Africa, especially in relation to education, corruption and land distribution. Dube’s imagery and mark-making references certain PTSD symptoms, both behavioural and psychological, ranging from agitation and hypervigilance to anxiety and mistrust. In addition to monotypes in the monochromtic ‘signature style’ he is known for, the exhibition also includes new painting works which emerged during his recent residency in Zimbabwe.

 

Born in 1993, Thina is a graduate of the University of Johannesburg, holds a postgraduate diploma in Education, and has taught at the National School of the Arts. Thina is also an art therapist who works with children with special needs at Casa do Sol. He has exhibited in group shows at Turbine Art Fair, Constitution Hill, Sguzu Press Soweto, and AVA amongst others. In 2018, he has exhibited at the Stellenbosch Museum, ABSA, Eclectica and InToto, and also completed a residency with First Floor Gallery Harare.  Thina has worked with Guns & Rain since 2015.

 

We have additional artworks which are not yet on the website – please just email us for more details: info @ gunsandrain.com.  You can also explore Thina’s work via one of our London partners, Partnership Editions.

Exhibitions, Awards & Collections

2018  Guns & Rain, AKAA, Paris

2018 Solo Exhibition, Guns & Rain, Johannesburg

2018 Residency, First Floor Gallery Harare

2018 Group Exhibition, In Toto, Johannesburg

2018 Group Exhibition, Eclectica Contemporary, Cape Town

2018 The Last Harvest, Solo Exhibition, Stellenbosch Museum, Cape Town

2018 Talking to Deaf Ears, Group Exhibition, ABSA Gallery, Johannesburg

2017 Salon, Group Exhibition, AVA Gallery, Cape Town

2017 White Noise, Group Exhibition, Joburg Fringe Fair

2017 Partnership Editions, AKAA Art Fair, Paris

2017 Facing Fanagalo, Solo Exhibition, Guns & Rain and National School of the Arts, Johannesburg