Paballo Majela and Odette Graskie are participating in the Free State Art Festival Exhibition

Paballo Majela and Odette Graskie are invited to take part in, approximations to a voice: ellipsis, an exhibition curated by Jean Dreyer. The show will take place during the 2024 Free State Art Festival featured at the University of the Free State (Bloemfontein) at the Johannes Stegmann Gallery from 1 July to 6 August. It will connect with the Festival ‘s emphasis on literature and languages along with a First Nations Initiative on our indigenous heritage.

approximations to a voice: ellipsis is a group exhibition focusing on how the layering of visual image and lingual text entangles into a multiplicity of voices within and beyond the borders of an artwork, on how the voice permeates an openness, on how the voice is an ellipsis.

The word ellipsis (traditionally referenced with …) refers to the omission of a word or phrase that can be inferred from the context. The incomplete exists inside the dots, inviting us to enter, to fully occupy the space. It thus embodies a dualism of both destructive and regenerative potential. Entering the ellipsis requires a willingness to unravel what is not there. We peel back layers of memory and possible codes breaking, repeating, reimagining and reclaiming what has been left out, assumed dead, lost or destroyed. The voice lingers. Through the gap we grasp a glimpse of what could have been and can be. It leaves us wondering, contemplating.