Alienated, a new body of work by South African artist Khumo Ramaila, explores what it means to search for belonging in a landscape shaped by disruption and uncertainty.
Created in the wake of the pandemic, the series reflects on the dystopian realities many young people encounter in contemporary South Africa, particularly within Johannesburg’s complex socio-political and economic environment. Ramaila approaches these tensions through a visually striking mixed-media process that combines digital photography with digital drawing.
Each work is built through layering, collage and hand stitching. These gestures bind together fragmented visual worlds, moments that feel both familiar and displaced, forming a hybrid visual language that mirrors the instability of the present moment. Through colour, texture and constructed imagery, Ramaila navigates themes of alienation, resilience and the continual rebuilding of identity.
The exhibition ultimately asks how new forms of belonging might emerge from fractured realities.
