Congolese artist Patrick Bongoy’s process is a language that builds itself, ever deepening in its reach and complexity through constantly shifting states of matter. Beginning with salvaged waste — inner tubes of tyres, found metal parts and wire — the bulky, light-absorbing materials are transformed into large, intricate new forms. 'CY15' is a dense, three-dimensional relief made from fine strips of woven rubber – a process that draws on traditional basket-making techniques, referencing the physical labour that defines day-to-day life in the DRC. The regeneration and repurposing of materials – especially rubber, which was harvested under the violent colonial rule of Belgian King Leopold II – addresses issues of economic exploitation and environmental degradation. 'CY15' speaks to the regeneration of identity and the ongoing process of a nation in the process of re-articulating itself. Bongoy was a finalist in the seventh edition of the LOEWE Foundation Craft Prize in 2024, with 'CY15' shortlisted and exhibited in the final group exhibition at Palais de Tokyo, Paris.

'Factory Wall VIII' is an expansive segment lifted from the walls of Iranian-born artist Kamyar Bineshtarigh’s former studio in Salt River, Cape Town. The space, which once operated as a vast clothing factory, became a site of immersive experimentation for Bineshtarigh. Ink, crayon, pencil, bleach, and scrawls of Farsi text were applied directly onto the factory walls over a period of two years, then covered with a layer of cold glue; peeled away from the structure, the work stands as a palimpsestic record of the passing of time. Intuitive gestures and undulating marks – both intentional and unintentional – emerge and dissolve, creating a weighted and curious visual experience that is explorative rather than explanatory. Bineshtarigh’s interest in text, particularly Arabic script and calligraphy, has become a means to explore the nature of language as mark-making. He is conceptually concerned with investigating the practice of writing and translation as well as the (mis)communications inherent in language as it crosses borders. 'Factory Wall VIII' was first shown in Uncover, his solo exhibition at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town (2022), which named him the inaugural winner of the Bowmans Young Artists Award. Southern Guild has most recently exhibited his work at The Aspen Art Fair, The Armory Show in New York and EXPO Chicago. His forthcoming solo exhibition will open at Southern Guild Los Angeles in 2025.

Young Ga or Gan girls from South East Ghana wore this horned hairstyle. The Ga are descended from immigrants who came down the Niger River and across the Volta during the 17th century. The Ga-speaking peoples were organized into six independent towns, among which Accra became the most prominent.

Fang Ndom is a Cameroonian hairstylist in Cape Town whom the artist knows. This work was inspired by an elaborate hairstyle photographed by J.D. ’Okhai Ojeikere, which was created using the ancient art of threading, called irun kiko (literally translated as "gathered hair" in Yoruba). Because it required only pieces of thread, yarn or wool, it became a popular technique and was used to create gravity-defying arrangements of the hair.

Courtesy of Kalashnikovv Gallery.

Courtesy of WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery.

Courtesy of WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery.

Courtesy of WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery.

Courtesy of Nicodim Gallery.

Courtesy of Nicodim Gallery.

Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim Gallery

Courtesy of Mariane Boesky Gallery. 'The Cantor' forms part of Sanford Biggers’ marble sculpture series, titled 'Chimeras', which merges African and European masks, busts, and figures into new forms – an emergent state of transformation. These works explore how the removal and transformation of both Greco-Roman and African sculpture from their original use and presentation have influenced commonly misunderstood notions of culture and aesthetics to unexpected and often detrimental effects. Like their namesake suggests, the figures borrow and blend from various sources, giving rise to wholly new creatures that retain vestiges of their pasts, while prompting questions surrounding origins, authenticity and the historical dissemination and appropriation of cultural patrimony that continues into today. Biggers says, “I call them chimera because they are in a sense monsters, sometimes beautiful, sometimes terrifying, but they are the monsters that history has wrought.” Rather than underscoring the dichotomy between African and European cultures and histories, placing the African masks on these classical forms reveals the syncretic nature of our reading of historical art objects. 'The Cantor’s' display atop a modular wooden pedestal further dismantles the Western canonical presentation of marbles as permanent and immobile, and establishes a new physical relationship between the sculpture and the viewer.

Courtesy of Mariane Boesky Gallery. Throughout his practice, American conceptual artist Sanford Biggers examines the inherent tensions of history and culture, of language and symbol, of myth and narrative. Operating across diverse mediums, Biggers emerges as an artistic intermediary. Continuously interrupting established narratives, intervening into historical forms, and remixing recognizable cultural signifiers, he complicates, questions, and ultimately fosters new understandings of collective histories. 'Sugar Sell the Pie' is from the artist’s 'Codex' series, whose central feature is the use of painted, collaged, twisted and molded antique quilts. In 19th-century America, quilts served not only as objects of domestic comfort and warmth, but as signposts containing coded symbols indicating routes of safety and danger for escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia. Inspired by this history, Biggers created his first quilt-based works in the early 2000s, intending to “straddle the line between beautification and vandalism dealing with Americana and nostalgia”. He reimagines these vestiges of the past and their myriad attendant meanings, metaphors, and associations, embracing the inherent tensions at the heart of this tangled web of history and lore. Shown at multiple museums, the 'Codex' works were the focus of Biggers’ 'Codeswitch' exhibition curated by Sergio Bessa and Andrea Andersson, which travelled from the Bronx Museum of Art, NY, to the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY, and the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, CA from 2020-2022.