Nkule Mabaso

Nkule Mabaso is a curator, editor, and researcher, and the director of Natal Collective, an independent production company active internationally in the research and presentation of creative and cultural Africana contemporary art and politics. She is currently director of the Fotogalleriet, Oslo an institution dedicated to photography as a critical art practice. Mabaso is also PhD candidate at HDK-Valand (Academy of Art & Design, Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts), University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Mabaso’s practice is collaborative and current project researches artistic, curatorial practises and artworks that are situated at the intersection of art, ecology, and African feminism.

Curating Photography and Other Discourse Gaps

The talk will reflect on navigating the complexities of exhibiting photographic works in medium-specific institutions.The talk will reflect on three past projects that centred on the curating of lens-based works between (2015 to 2017 at the University of Cape Town Followed by an overview of the context and practices of exhibiting photography at Fotogalleriet since its founding in 1977. It will explore the challenges of presenting photographic works within medium-specific institutions and consider the dynamics that arise between ambitious curatorial frameworks and the broader narratives through which societies imagine and represent themselves.