Githan Coopoo

Githan Coopoo is a self-taught Jewelry Designer and Sculptor, working exclusively with clay as their base medium as it is both uncomplicated and universally timeless. Originally focused on volume, opulence and fragility Coopoo’s jewelry has shown at Fashion Weeks internationally, including New York, Paris, Nigeria and Russia. Expanding upon his practice, Coopoo has begun producing larger scale works aligned with his own experiences and thoughts about queer love and sex – predominantly vases with anthropomorphic earing-like handles and simple but pointed messages painted across their facades. A replica ancient ceramic object - the amphora, cracks and all – makes use of the earrings as a personal symbol of queerness to the artist. Both the vase and earrings are different entities, but exist in harmony on one body. In this form, the playfulness and personality of the object is highlighted - it’s arms akimbo - its queerness is personified. This gesture is then bolstered by base and colourful remarks – teetering between the existential and tongue-and-cheek.

“Clay is very human in its behavior and I like to highlight that in my work, as well as my love for mythology, ancient civilisations and the gifts they have left us. There is something special about objects that are lost and then found again. They change in their absence. Mythology often allows for an easier transmission of queer ideas in this way.”

2021 – Bluet, group exhibition, KSSO Editions, Cape Town; House Party, group exhibition, The Fourth, Cape Town; Queer Art Chats: Queer Abstraction, Conversations with The Museum of Modern Art, New York, via Zoom; Kutti Bazaar, collaboration with proto, The A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town. 2020 - The Spectacle, group exhibition, The Fourth, Cape Town; Home is where the art is, group exhibition, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town; Pink’s not Dead!, group exhibition, Apartment, Cape Town; Kernel, group exhibition, Curated by Nabeeha Mohammed and Grace Cross, Cape Town; Shaping Things, group exhibition, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town.

14.07 - 14.08.2021

Winter Group Exhibition

To Whom It May Concern is a winter group exhibition featuring many beloved Salon Ninety One artists and some exciting new additions to our stable.

The phrase “to whom it may concern” is most often used in open letter formats where the recipient is unknown. For the past year, we have all experienced unprecedented change and disruptions to our daily life. Many of us would not have predicted that more than a year later we would still be dealing with the almost surreal and idiosyncratic “new normal”. With all that has had to be cancelled, rescheduled, changed, adjusted, and delayed, where does one put their feelings? How can this shift in our world view be put into words? And, if we could express how much the past year has changed us, who would we even address that to?

The exhibition will open on the 14th July and will run until the 14th of August 2021. To sign up to receive a catalogue on the day the show opens, please use the button below.

ARTISTS:

AMBER MOIR
ANDREW SUTHERLAND
CHLOE TOWNSEND
CLAIRE JOHNSON
FANIE BUYS
GITHAN COOPOO
HEIDI FOURIE
JEANNE HOFFMAN
KATRIN COETZER
KIRSTEN BEETS
MAROLIZE SOUTHWOOD
PAUL SENYOL
SHAKIL SOLANKI
SITAARA STODEL
ZARAH CASSIM