Modisakeng's use of material and metaphor underscores the body’s role as both a vessel and a witness of trauma, and as a contested site in the struggle over historical narrative and personal agency.
Born in Soweto in 1986, Mohau Modisakeng is a multidisciplinary artist whose work grapples with the legacy of South Africa’s violent past and its ongoing impact on identity, memory, and the black body. Through film, photography, installation, and performance, Modisakeng explores how histories of colonialism and apartheid continue to shape social, political, and cultural roles in post-colonial Africa—especially in post-apartheid South Africa.
Rather than depicting violence directly, his work often evokes its lingering presence. “My work doesn’t start off with an attempt to portray violence,” he notes, “but it becomes mesmerising because although we might recognise history as our past, the body is indifferent to social changes, so it remembers.” His use of material and metaphor underscores the body’s role as both a vessel and a witness of trauma, and as a contested site in the struggle over historical narrative and personal agency.