Paul Maheke
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Description
In "A fire circle for a public hearing," the video captures circular movements and blurred edges dominated by a soft palette, creating a sensation of rotation and fluidity. The central figure's expressive gestures convey both a sense of concealment and revelation. The style blends performance art with video, emphasizing movement and bodily expression. Paul Maheke's work explores the visibility and invisibility of marginalized narratives, using spiritual and esoteric themes to challenge conventional identity frameworks. ...
Through various art forms and disciplines, from drawing to performance, Paul Maheke has pursued a long-term exploration of the ways in which marginalised bodies, narratives and histories are made visible and invisible. Resisting an exploration of identity that is framed solely within identity politics, Paul Maheke's trajectory has always been channeled through spectral sensations. By reconfiguring the sensible, Mahake nurtures the formation of a self through a state of in-betweenness; a state where esoteric, spiritual, queer and embodied knowledge help the artist garner the potential of a prophecy. ...
Founded in 2010 by Guillaume Sultana, Sultana collaborates with emerging international artists. The gallery space operates as a site for experimentation and expression, often bringing together well-established and lesser known artists through a playful, yet politically-engaged curatorial program that highlights practices concerned with questions of identity and their social ramifications. By giving space to curators and writers, in addition to artists, the gallery is committed to rethinking the traditional modes of exhibition-making and collaboration within the art world. In 2021, Sultana opened Sultana Summer Set Arles to convene artists, collectors, curators, and friends close to the gallery in a domestic and intimate space in the heart of the city. This space was conceived as a residency and site of exchange, to host projects angled toward creative freedom, reflection, and flânerie that eschews a regular programming schedule, and is organized instead according to the whims and desires of our community. These two spaces exemplify the spirit of Sultana: the desire to provide artists with an independent platform for expression via site-specific projects and curatorial propositions. ...