Sabela Uyabizwa brings the work of Gladys Mgudlandlu alongside the new works by Kemang Wa Lehulere, creating a meeting between two artists separated by generations but connected through questions about memory, history and artistic inheritance.

Rather than presenting Wa Lehulere’s work as a tribute to Mgudlandlu, the exhibition invites a conversation across time. Paintings by Mgudlandlu, drawn from Wa Lehulere’s personal collection, are shown alongside works that reflect on her legacy without attempting to explain or reinterpret it.

For many visitors, the exhibition is also an opportunity to spend time with the work of Gladys Mgudlandlu, one of South Africa’s pioneering modern artists. Working during apartheid, she developed a distinctive visual language at a time when Black women artists had little access to the country’s art institutions. Her paintings continue to influence younger generations of artists.

Wa Lehulere has long engaged with overlooked histories in South African art, often returning to figures whose contributions deserve greater recognition. His ongoing interest in Mgudlandlu’s work has featured in earlier projects and continues here through a quieter, more personal exchange.

Presented on an intimate scale, Sabela Uyabizwa offers space to look closely at how artists shape one another across generations. It is less about influence than about listening, acknowledging what came before, and considering how artistic histories continue to unfold.

Sabela Uyabizwa is an opportunity to see Mgudlandlu’s work from a new perspective while tracing its influence in Wa Lehulere’s ongoing engagement with South African art history.