Sonya Mmakopano Rademeyer
Biography
As a visual and performing artist Sonya Rademeyer is interested in exploring notions of deep-empathy. Her explorations around empathy requires deep-listening which connects her to concepts of entanglement, fragility and complexities. She grapples with the relationship between empathy and whiteness viewed from a post-colonial perspective, looking for ways to open discussions around forgiveness, social cohesion and transformation which inevitably leads her to address complicated content.
Working from a non-cognitive perspective and allowing herself to connect to dimensions beyond the tangible and known, Rademeyer regards drawing as central to her artistic practice. For her, her drawings serve as pointers to a spiritual dimension which is reflected in her frequent choice of using the colour silver. Connected to her drawing is a strong performative element which is often incorporated into her collaborations with musicians. For Rademeyer, the intersections between drawing and performance remains an area of constant exploration.
Her navigational pull towards soil, earth and land often evokes live site-specific performances which speak to land dispossession and colonization within Southern Africa. For Rademeyer, deep-listening is an essential practice in decolonization which she strives to constantly develop and deepen. Ultimately, Rademeyer’s work speaks to cultural healing within a multicultural society.
A graduate of Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam (The Netherlands), Rademeyer has exhibited in multiple group shows both nationally and internationally. Her work has been incorporated into both private and public collections in South Africa, Egypt and Italy and she represented South Africa in the 2008 Dak’ Art Biennale (Senegal).
July 2022