Palingenesis marks Justin Dingwall’s return to the butterfly, a defining motif from his early photographic series Albus. New photographs are shown alongside selected artist proofs from that earlier body of work, revealing how the meaning of a familiar image can change over time.
In Albus, Dingwall photographed models with albinism, including Thando Hopa and Sanele Xaba. Butterflies appeared alongside the human figure as symbols of transformation, fragility, renewal and perception. The series challenged inherited ideas of beauty and brought wider attention to Dingwall’s carefully constructed photographic language.
Dingwall later moved away from the imagery that had become closely associated with his practice. Years of experimentation and creative uncertainty followed. Palingenesis—a word describing rebirth or regeneration—returns to the butterfly from the perspective of an artist shaped by those intervening experiences.
The new photographs unfold as a progression. A single butterfly appears in the opening images, then multiplies across the series until the figure is completely enveloped. Its presence gradually changes from a delicate detail into something immersive. The butterfly carries ideas of memory, identity, burden, beauty and release, while the body becomes a site of continual change.
Selected artist proofs from Albus provide the exhibition with a visible point of origin. Placed alongside the new photographs, they allow viewers to trace the distance between Dingwall’s earlier use of the butterfly and its reappearance in his current work.
Palingenesis presents identity as something formed and re-formed throughout a lifetime. Dingwall’s return to the butterfly reflects the layered nature of that process: past experiences remain present, familiar symbols acquire new meanings, and transformation continues long after its first visible signs.
