Dineo Seshee Bopape has placed various forms of processed earth, each with a link to human culture, on low plinths made of mudbrick. There are subtle washes of coloured pigment, a dried circle of pale paste and dustings of gold leaf. Around them are dozens of clay cylinders, roughly shaped by the clenching fingers of a hand.
These clay lumps range from black to ashy grey to ochre, reflecting the fact that they have been excavated from many sites. Among them are plaques of wood carrying stories from a span of 500 years. In each, a community in a different part of Africa has fought back against Europeans who grabbed territory, suppressed culture and plundered resources. Bopape notes the number who fell during each uprising: the clay pieces become commemorative objects. Earth in its many forms here carries associations of contested mineral wealth, material for building houses and making art, land for growing crops and grazing livestock, but above all homeland: the soil beneath your feet.
