Kutlwano Monyai’s joyous contrast of colour and texture in debut exhibition

An encounter with Kutlwano Monyai’s debut solo art exhibition titled “Dakalo – The Ultimate Gift” is an exploration of the complexities of joy through colours, textures and emotional storytelling. The 30-year-old artist, who was born in Limpopo, defines joy as the constant pursuit of thankfulness, optimism, and human connection in the face of tragedy and uncertainty.

Her exhibition, which is showing at Gallery MOMO Parktown North, follows the ebbs and flows of ordinary life, where joy is inextricably linked with sorrow. She weaves through the deep personal and universal relationship between grief, healing, and the ultimate joy that comes thereafter.

Monyai’s bold creative expression draws inspiration from traditional VhaVenda women’s wear. It is threaded throughout the work, which is created using everyday materials such as recycled plastics, wood and concrete materials used for the artwork. Monyai also uses crocheting techniques, a practice that has somewhat become a lost art, in her artistic creations.

This exhibition marks a significant milestone in Monyai’s artistic journey, following her 2024 Absa L’Atelier Art Award win. Hence, her debut exhibition since winning the award two years ago was backed by a partnership between Absa and Sanava. The award is one of Africa’s longest-standing and most respected visual arts development programmes that also provides platforms for emerging artists to grow their careers and create new lanes for transformation.

Monyai’s approach to this exhibition was driven by an ambition to get people to relate to joy and pain from a different lens.

“It is great to see people relate to the work. What is at the heart of this work are the experiences of grief and healing and joy and what that looks like from a point of home in our communities,” she reflected.

This reflection can be seen in the art and how it tells a story that begins from a place of grief and gradually unfolds into a meditation on how human emotions can transform. Through fractured forms, woven structures, and reconstructed domestic materials, Monyai managed to reflect on the ways communities inherit, carry, and ultimately reshape histories of trauma.

Senior art and museum curator at Absa Group, Dr Paul Bayliss, noted how Monyai’s work challenged viewers to recognise grief not only as an experience of absence but also as a catalyst for empathy, healing, and renewal.

“Monyai’s work courageously examines the coexistence of grief and joy, demonstrating that healing is rarely linear. Kutlwano has transformed everyday materials into powerful sculptural narratives that offer insight into the human experience; she explores memory, community, and interconnectedness with remarkable sensitivity.

Through “Dakalo”, Kutlwano demonstrates that joy is often discovered not in the absence of suffering and pain but through our capacity to rebuild, reconnect, and imagine new possibilities together through an experience we all can recognise.”

Bayliss also reflected on the importance of the lender’s emerging artist support.

“Absa L’Atelier Art continues to invest in artists by helping them fast-track their careers. Its aim is to create opportunities that are meaningful to artistic growth, professional development, and international visibility. Kutlwano’s debut solo is a powerful example of how the initiative’s pillars support developing bold, intellectually rigorous, and socially relevant artists.”

Over the years, Monyai has steadily established herself as one of South Africa’s most promising emerging contemporary artists. Her practice has been shaped through exhibitions at the Pretoria Art Museum, the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, the Turbine Art Fair, Modern Arts Projects South Africa, and numerous collaborative initiatives that examine memory, identity, and materiality.

“Dakalo – The Ultimate Gift” is on until August 29.

Mpho Majoro