Scope Miami 2025: Resonant Realities with Esther Mahlangu, Ayanda Mabulu, Paul Blomkamp, Clint Strydom, Samuel Allerton and Carol Cauldwell
Booth D003
11h00 to 20h00
Resonant Realities: Contemporary Voices from Africa
Presented by The Melrose Gallery at SCOPE Miami 2025
Resonant Realities is a curated presentation highlighting the multiplicity, innovation, and intergenerational dialogue shaping contemporary African art today. Anchored by the iconic Dr. Esther Mahlangu, the exhibition brings together artists whose practices span tradition, abstraction, socio-political critique, photography, and sculpture.
The presentation features Mahlangu’s globally celebrated Ndebele geometric compositions; Clint Strydom’s evocative photographic series Ain’t That America; Paul Blomkamp’s spiritually infused abstractions; Ayanda Mabulu’s bold socio-political canvases; Carol Cauldwell’s playful Hip Hop Rabbits sculptures; and Samuel Allerton’s powerful bronze Warrior series. Together, these diverse voices map a landscape where heritage and experimentation converge, affirming Africa’s central role in shaping The New Contemporary.
The Melrose Gallery Presents
Resonant Realities: Contemporary Voices from Africa
SCOPE Miami 2025
The Melrose Gallery is pleased to announce Resonant Realities: Contemporary Voices from Africa, a dynamic exhibition debuting at SCOPE Miami 2025. This curated presentation positions African contemporary art at the heart of The New Contemporary, highlighting the innovation, resilience, and cultural dialogue that define artistic practices across the continent today.
Bringing together distinguished voices from multiple generations, Resonant Realities weaves a narrative that honours tradition while embracing the experimental spirit of the present moment. Through painting, photography, and sculpture, the exhibition reveals Africa as a site of layered storytelling, profound continuity, and bold creative evolution.
At the centre of the presentation is Dr. Esther Mahlangu, an internationally acclaimed icon of African art. Famous for her vibrant Ndebele geometric paintings, Mahlangu transforms centuries-old cultural aesthetics into striking contemporary compositions. Her work stands as a testament to living heritage—an affirmation that tradition remains an innovative and radical force within global art discourse.
Expanding the narrative into contemporary urban and symbolic terrains, Clint Strydom unveils new works from his ongoing photographic series Ain’t That America. Through a compelling interplay of still-life imagery and cityscapes, Strydom presents layered meditations on place, identity, and the globalised gaze. His technical precision merges with emotive depth to create visual palimpsests that invite viewers to look closer and reconsider what is familiar.
A pillar of South African abstraction, Paul Blomkamp contributes works rooted in geometry, colour theory, and spiritual resonance. Blomkamp’s practice bridges African modernism with international abstraction, providing an essential historical anchor within the exhibition. His presence illuminates the lineage of African artistic innovation that continues to shape contemporary aesthetics.
The exhibition also features powerful socio-political work by Ayanda Mabulu, whose uncompromising canvases confront authority, governance, and systems of power. Mabulu’s fearless voice ensures that Resonant Realities remains not only visually compelling but intellectually urgent, inviting critical engagement with the world we inhabit.
Introducing a vibrant counterpoint, Carol Cauldwell presents her celebrated Hip Hop Rabbits sculptures. Playful, humorous, and subtly subversive, these anthropomorphic works capture the energy of youth culture and the fluid identities of contemporary life. Cauldwell’s practice reminds us that contemporary art encompasses delight and irreverence alongside critique.
Completing the presentation, Samuel Allerton offers a sculptural dialogue through his Warrior series. These stylised bronze figures—minimal yet deeply expressive—evoke archetypes of guardianship, endurance, and resilience. Allerton’s forms bridge past and present, their timeless strength resonating within a modern sculptural language.
Together, the artists featured in Resonant Realities form a cohesive yet multifaceted vision of Africa’s creative landscape. From Mahlangu’s enduring cultural legacy to Strydom’s emotional urban reflections, from Blomkamp’s spiritual geometries to Mabulu’s radical socio-political commentary, and from Cauldwell’s playful hybridity to Allerton’s dignified sculptural presence, this exhibition embodies the essence of The New Contemporary: art that challenges, redefines, and reimagines what is possible.
Resonant Realities: Contemporary Voices from Africa
SCOPE Miami 2025, Booth D003, 2-7 Decmebr 2025
Presented by The Melrose Gallery
