Between us and the Stars

13 March - 26 April 2025

Thando Salman

Olivia Pintér

Nthabiseng Kekana

Mankebe Seakgoe

Ayobola Kekere-Ekun

Zakes Mda

Banele Khoza

Katlego Tlabela

Francesco Mbele

Cheriese Dilrajh

Navigating the liminal space between distance and relation

Two points in the vast expanse: us and the stars. The space that separates us is a liminal field of becoming, an ever-unfolding site of navigation, recognition, and connection. Between Us & the Stars is an invitation to explore this interval; not as an empty void, but as an interwoven network of light, story, and movement. The gallery’s first exhibition for the year 2025, Between Us & the Stars continues BKhz’s directive to nurture curatorial and artistic practice as both an individual and collective pursuit. This exhibition is a constellation of perspectives, experiences, and disciplines, tracing trajectories that will define the year ahead.

The notion of stars carries a dual weight in our imaginations. On the one hand, they are distant celestial bodies, forming constellations that have guided sailors, storytellers, and seekers across time. On the other, stars refer to figures reverence whose brilliance is both earned and bestowed. The tension between the astronomical and the aspirational grounds this exhibition’s inquiry.

In gathering these artists, Between Us & the Stars gestures toward the ways in which artistic practice functions as both an act of individual becoming and a site of collective mythmaking. A constellation is not a single entity but a relational structure; its meaning emerges from the connections drawn among points of light. Similarly, the works in this exhibition do not exist in isolation but gain depth through their juxtaposition, their echoes, their dialogue.

BKhz, with its ethos of care, collaboration, and artistic independence, functions as a kind of night sky where these connections can be drawn, where emergent voices are not only seen but understood in relation to those who have come before. The gallery has long been a site of navigation, charting paths linking the local and the global, the established and the emergent. This exhibition continues that trajectory, setting the coordinates for what lies ahead.

At its core, Between Us & the Stars is a prologue. The artists presented here embody the thematic, conceptual, and material investigations that will define BKhz’s year to come. Some works engage with personal histories and cultural memory, tracing the lineages that inform contemporary African artistic expression. Others challenge the viewer’s sense of materiality and form, pushing at the edges of medium and method. Some works embrace abstraction, allowing space for interpretation and affect, while others hold a mirror to society, confronting the political and the intimate with equal intensity.

This interplay between artistic intention and viewer interpretation is central to BKhz’s approach. The gallery does not dictate meaning but instead cultivates an environment where meaning can emerge through encounter, through resonance, through time. Much like the stars themselves, these works ask us to look, to reflect, to locate ourselves within a larger structure.

To stand beneath a star-filled sky is to feel at once small and infinite, to recognise both the vastness of the universe and the intimacy of our place within it. This dual sensation, of distance and connection, mirrors the experience of engaging with art. A painting, a sculpture, an installation: each work is a point of light, an invitation to enter into relation. The act of looking, of interpreting, of feeling is what collapses the distance, what brings the stars closer.

BKhz has always fostered this kind of engagement. It is a space where audiences are not passive spectators but active participants, where artists and viewers alike are invited to question, to dream, to challenge and be challenged. Between Us & the Stars extends this ethos, offering a glimpse into the year ahead while affirming the gallery’s ongoing commitment to artistic audacity, public access, and critical dialogue.

The beauty of a constellation is that it is never fixed. Stars move, stories shift, new connections are drawn. So too with this exhibition, and with BKhz itself. The artists gathered here are not bound by a singular vision but are engaged in an ongoing process of exploration. Their works do not conclude but rather continue, extending beyond the walls of the gallery into the lives and imaginations of those who encounter them.

In looking up, we find guidance. In looking across, we find each other. Between Us & the Stars is both an act of looking and an act of recognition. Welcome to the constellation in formation. Take the moment to pause, to orient, to consider what lies ahead.

- Fikile Mali