Nthabiseng KEKANA : Between Ancient Wisdom and Healing
During FNB Art Joburg, Nthabiseng Kekana (b. 1999) unveiled Sankofa: A Call for Remembrance, a memorable solo show with Wunika Mukan Gallery. The exhibition stands as a testament to the artist and healer’s wisdom and depth, arriving just as she returned from her initiation as a sangoma (traditional healer).
Nthabiseng KEKANA, Courtesy of Wunika Mukan Gallery
IN CONVERSATION : FALL SPECIALS
In Sankofa: A Call for Remembrance, Nthabiseng Kekana turns art into ceremony. Drawing on her journey as an initiated sangoma, she invites viewers to remember, retrieve and reconnect. Each work becomes an artefact of healing, tracing a path back to the self.
“I have been known to be gifted in my family ever since I was a child.” confides Nthabiseng KEKANA with sharp confidence that contrasts with her petite voice. As she speaks, each sentence has a strong resonance carrying ancestral wisdom, while she insists, she is acting as a vessel hosting this knowledge. The art is but her means to reveal it. Born and raised in Alexandra, Johannesburg, Kekana (b.1999) has emerged as a distinctive voice in South African art, weaving together her roles as an artist and initiated sangoma [traditional healer] into a unified practice of spiritual and cultural reclamation. And it was during the latest edition of FNB Art Joburg that she revealed the multiple layers of her practice through her solo show Sankofa: A Call for Remembrance, presented by Wunika Mukan Gallery.
The genesis of Sankofa extends far beyond the studio walls. The artworks were conceived a year before their creation, a product of the preparation required for Kekana’s initiation as a sangoma. The initiation process required a long period of isolation, which she recalls enabled her to reconnect with the lost parts of herself and reconstruct a new body—or, perhaps more accurately, reveal her actual self:
“Isolation stripped me of everything I remembered. It protects you from everything so that you can meet the ultimate version of yourself, the one that already existed”
During this process, she actively reconnected with lost fragments of her heritage, a deliberate journey that led her to encounter language, culture, and familial connections that had been severed by time and circumstances. These aspects of deconstruction and reconstruction can be seen in the show, split into three acts: a combination of drawings and oil-on-canvas pieces made with sacred ochre alongside more textured mixed-media works that incorporate fabrics, raffia fibers, cowrie shells, and Imfibinga beads. A third element comprises clay sculptures that evoke the formation of bodies. The installment evokes contemporary artefacts or the reminiscences of a ceremony.
Nthabiseng KEKANA, Courtesy of Wunika Mukan Gallery
On the topic of materials, here again Nthabiseng Kekana exhibits subtle decisiveness and intentionality within each of her choices: “There’s a deep connection between my work and the use of materials. They often tie to the history of my people, especially the red ochre I use in some of my work which originates from the soil of my people. This particular red ochre is used during rituals and initiation ceremonies in my culture. It symbolizes rebirth. Material carries this dialogue forward. I often use raffia, a natural fiber that serves as both thread and wave, weaving together my conscious and subconscious, echoing the cyclical nature of existence. For me, creating is a way of remembering, of calling forth what was, what is, and what will be.”
Sankofa : A Call for Remembrance, FNB Art Joburg, September 2025, Wunika Mukan Gallery
By contrast, during the act of creating, Kekana removes all intentionality, being guided by spirits : “Most of my work is not preplanned, for the most part I allow spirits to manifest the way they want to hence my work can come through abstraction and or figurative. Being a bearer of the gift of wisdom, it goes hands in hands with big responsibilities. What I have in my hands is bigger than myself. Spirits lead me, I am just a vessel. As a child I remember being an empath, having this deep inner knowledge about myself and being able to connect with others. In my community and family those are identified as the characteristics of a healer.” She remembers through her gift, she was able to cure and heal what western medicine would not.
It was this depth that drew the attention of gallerist and curator Wunika Mukan, who also sensed the vibrant wisdom emanating from the artist after several encounters. Through her work, Kekana invites us to experience transformation. As she explains, just as her initiation stripped away layers of identity that did not belong to her, allowing her to meet her true self and experience the ‘breaking of the ego to retrieve what was lost but always present’, she hopes her work will spark something within the public. “I don’t want to dictate or have any expectation of what I want the works to say to people. My hope is simply that the work will ignite a feeling within them, a thought from the unconscious mind, whatever that feeling may be. The truest response is one that is uniquely their own.This is why I refrain myself from guiding how it should be perceived. Sankofa is about remembering. It alludes to what is within, the dreams that once were and which need to go back to and retrieve those and reconnect to oneself. Find again those lost parts of ourselves, go back, and this time own them fully.”
