-
Embodied Cognition
Tashinga Majiri | Nyasha Marovatsanga | Lulama Wolf -
“The mind is inherently embodied. Thought is mostly unconscious. Abstract concepts are largely metaphorical.”
- George Lakoff
-
The idea of a mind body duality has defined western philosophy since the Enlightenment, with profound implications. Cartesian Dualism is a powerful thought structure, shaping the way we view the world, and dividing it into opposites: mind and body, rational and irrational, right and wrong. Its rigid linearity ignoring the edges, slippage in meanings, the vague and undefined.
This mind body duality is now being questioned. The idea of the disembodied mind, disproved.
-
Whichever way we look at it, our minds are embodied. We learn by doing and being. Our physicality defines our existence, and metaphors rooted in experience shape our consciousness.
Painting is sensuous: the body in dialogue with the canvas. At times rational, but largely intuitive. The physicality of the gesture, like a dance. This visual language can’t be expressed though words alone, we experience it though feeling.
-
The artists in Embodied Cognition possess a unique visual language. Bypassing the linear, they use ambiguity and suggestion to create new metaphors and ways of seeing. They draw on a complex network of association – here a colour, there a familiar shape – to appeal to the subconscious, with layered and intuitive references.
-
A new language embracing the slippage, the other. The mind, embodied.
As we negotiate new realities in this age of connection, with minds that can no longer navigate its immense complexity, perhaps, as Hannah Arendt said, ”One must think with the body and the soul or not think at all. ”
-
“The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.”
- George Lakoff
-
About Tashinga Majiri
Tashinga Majiri (b. 1993, Zimbabwe) graduated in 2019 with a Diploma in Fine Art from the National Gallery of Zimbabwe school of Visual Art and Design, specializing in painting and printmaking.
Over the past couple of years, he has been working to develop his own approach which blends painting and printmaking together, working with monotypes on canvas interlaced with painting and spray paint.
As a poet he is also interested in the engagement that is possible through subtle incorporation of automatic writing in his canvases, His works float in and out of figuration and have the quality of day dreams, an escape from the here and now into art and its possibilities.
-
About Nyasha Marovatsanga
Nyasha Marovatsanga is a young artist based in Harare, Zimbabwe. Under the mentorship of Misheck Masamvu, he has developed a powerful painterly language, using gestural brushstrokes and bold colouration.
He speaks of his work: "Sometimes, I go blank, then the portraits revive my everyday struggle. Sometimes I dream, then I reveal the dreams in my portraits. Sometimes I laugh, and the teeth show all the cracks. Sometimes, the sun shines too hot."
Nyasha is represented in collections in South Africa, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe. He has exhibited with THK Gallery at 1-54 London and the Cape Town Art Fair.
-
About Lulama Wolf
Lulama Wolf (b. 1993) is a visual artist who lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.
At the intersection of Neo-Expressionism and Modern African Art, Wolf interrogates the pre-colonial African experience through the contemporary mind by using smearing, scraping, and deep pigment techniques that were used in vernacular architecture, and the patterns created largely by women to decorate traditional African homes.
History and the proof of life are the core concepts in her work. Where there has rarely prior been reference of life in black spirituality, she counters that narrative by creating two dimensional paintings to embody the simplicity and deep spiritual power of the native eye. Her motivation is both tender and protective of her imaginary world, and her symbolic view of how her world looks into an alternate universe. She is set on creating both a photographic and graphic experience, that morphs and shapeshifts into a higher dimensional plane."My work carries my spirit, before it carries a message. My intuition plays a vital role in the direction I go and then I compartmentalise with what I prioritise. I represent different parts of my self including abstraction, curiosity, mythology, spirituality and introspection. Blackness is vital in my work because it is created by a black woman despite the medium or language it speaks, it is vital because proof of existence is rare in the black community, information is shared but isn’t sustained in ways that are knowledgeable to us right now. I express my yearning for answers and clarity in ways that make my blackness clear even when the work is abstract. My practice embodies subtlety in a form of texture and expression, a curious mix of ambiguity and curiosity. I experiment with different textures and moulds that are formed from the earth."
-
Press
-
-
Tashinga Majiri | Emerging Painting Invitational | Interview
October 10, 2020 An interview with Tashinga Majiri, regarding his 2020 Emerging Painting Invitational Finalist award nomination. Watch the full interview here . -
Daily Maverick | South African artist Lulama Wolf paints a personalised narrative of African artistry
September 7, 2021 An interview with and article on the work and practice of Lulama Wolf. Read the full piece here . -
Lulama Wolf | Art X Lagos | Undulating Curves that Create Lithe Bodies in Space
November 20, 2021 An article by Nkgopoleng Moloi on the work and practice of THK Gallery artist Lulama Wolf. Read the full piece here . -
Lulama Wolf | NewAfrican | Artists to watch at this year’s 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair
October 14, 2021 An article on artists to watch at the 2021 Edition of the 1-54 London Contemporary African Art Fair, featuring THK Gallery artist Lulama Wolf. Read the full piece here . -
Artnet News | 5 Artists That the Artnet Gallery Network Is Watching in January
January 8, 2021 An article on 5 artists to watch in January 2021, featuring Lulama Wolf. Read the full piece here . -
Glamour South Africa | Getting to know Lulama ‘Wolf’ Mlambo
November 22, 2021 An interview with Lulama Wolf. Read the full piece here . -
Art Times | Different Angles | February 2020 Edition | Nyasha Marovatsanga | Johno Mellish
January 28, 2020 A Featured article by Sven Christian on the show Different Angles. The show features two solo presentations by Johno Mellish and Nyasha Marovatsanga, and is on at THK Gallery from... -
Art Times | Ashraf Jamal | April 2020 Edition | Different Angles | Nyasha Marovatsanga | Johno Mellish
March 25, 2020 An article written by Ashraf Jamal, which highlights the show Different Angles. The online version of the full April 2020 edition of Art Times can be found here . Or... -
The South African | THK Gallery at 1-54 London 2020
October 9, 2020 An article featuring THK Gallery's participation at 1-54 London 2020. Read the full piece here .
-