Sahlah Davids works glitter from the walls of THK Gallery’s 1-54 booth. Thousands of shimmering beads, sequins, and fabrics are strung together into sparkling thorns and stalactites, evoking a bejeweled coral formation. The emerging South African artist is influenced by her childhood growing up in the Muslim Cape Malay community in Cape Town, where beadwork plays a key role. “She remembers, growing up, women would sit around and work on these sorts of collective projects,” said Linda Pyke, director at the gallery. “She just continued that, and these exploded to be much more elaborate.”
Each work is named after personal moments of significance to the artist, and I found something special about Uncle Maghdi’s Fabric Stall, Grand Parade (2024): For me, its title captures some of the childlike obsession with tactile commercial experiences.
Elsewhere at the booth, my eye was also caught by Driaan Claassen’s stunning stained teak totem, I’m Not Giving Up (2022), carved into a smooth, minimalist statement piece.
