GOQA brings together a new group of photographs taken during a research trip to Johannesburg in 2022. The title of the photographic series is Zulu slang for a special key that allows illegal entry into any house. This reference is manifested in the installation of the work: a collection of blank keys attached by rings next to key rings showing photographs of Johannesburg buildings. They present us with a portrait of the city’s current architecture, a starting point for thinking about buildings as witnesses to history and narrators of forgotten, decadent urban ideals. Cities do not lie, but rather throw in our faces the smallest detail of the violence we exert on them. In each GOQA key ring there is a sharp element, a stylized, beautiful, yet threatening, aggressive weapon. It is up to us to use it judiciously; the choice is ours.
Installation view at Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, 2023 Johannesburg, 2023