The South African artist Moshekwa Langa (b. 1975) will show new works: drawings, collages and photographs as well as a video work and an installation on the floor. In his work, Langa draws on materials and ideas from his immediate vicinity. In his so called ‘broken landscapes’ he uses wall paint, spray paint, nail polish, red wine and salt. As he layers the various materials on top of each other, he simultaneously creates layers of meaning and references that often remain ambivalent or cryptic, leaving the decoding of work entirely to the viewer.

In his photographic work, Langa gives us insight into South African culture. He takes portraits of the inhabitants of his home city or captures them in everyday situations.

If Langa’s universe seems to consist of unstable fragments, it is nonetheless concerned with the realities of daily existence. In his work, he deals predominantly with issues such as identity, social affiliation and religious rituals. Langa describes himself as a documentarian. He observes life and creates maps of its geographic and psychological history. The results of his work are not placed as much at the forefront for Langa as is the process of their creation. His exhibition at Galerie Mikael Andersen was made in the gallery-owned studio in Pfefferberg where Moshekwa Langa lived and worked in the spring.

Moshekwa Langa lives and works in Amsterdam and Johannesburg. His work has been exhibited extensively and was included in the Venice Biennial in 2009. He will have a solo exhibition in 2011 at Kunsthalle Bern in Switzerland. Furthermore he will exhibit works at the Biennial Prospect 2 in November 2011 in New Orleans.