Reimagining Resistance Through Kanga
Born in Johannesburg in 1982, Lawrence Lemaoana is a South African artist whose work merges visual storytelling, political critique, and textile-based craft. Best known for his text-based embroideries on kanga fabric, Lemaoana critiques systems of control—particularly the role of media, the state, and surveillance—in shaping South African identity and consciousness.
Lemaoana’s artistic practice is deeply rooted in interrogating mass media’s influence in post-apartheid South Africa. He sees the relationship between media and the public as fraught and problematic, often replicating patterns of dominance rather than offering spaces for authentic representation. Through irony and symbolic materials, his work exposes and challenges the apparatuses that claim to speak on behalf of the people.
“Kanga fabrics (made infamous during the Zuma rape trial) are used extensively in my work. Manufactured in the East, and brought to South Africa to be sold in markets and bazaars, the journey of the fabrics speaks of the idiosyncrasies and trade imbalances of globalisation. The textiles themselves though have a wholly different life in South Africa – they are regarded as significant markers of spiritual healing, imbued with great religious and spiritual power, used by divinators and fortune-tellers. Each has a metaphoric symbol which renders it worthy of the African ancestors, the most common being the sun. Others, with some kind of animal print represent the animal that stands in for Inyanga or Sangoma. Never intended as metaphoric or spiritual patterns, many are made up of foreign plants, their color remains significant, particularly the ‘Njeti’.”
Media as a Tool of Power
At the core of Lemaoana’s work is a persistent inquiry: Who gets to control the narrative? His embroidered pieces repurpose political slogans and official language, transforming instruments of propaganda into critiques of authority. By placing these slogans on soft, domestic, and culturally charged materials, he invites viewers to reconsider the power of text, language, and visual symbolism.
Lemaoana sees the media as a weapon—one capable of influencing the social psyche, manipulating group consciousness, and directing public emotion. His works thus operate as counter-propaganda, flipping didactic tools on their heads and reclaiming visual language for marginalized voices.
The Symbolism of Kanga
Lemaoana’s preferred medium, kanga fabric, is significant. Originating from coastal East Africa in the 19th century, kanga was historically banned by slave masters, who sought to suppress its expressive power and communal symbolism. As a rejection of the colonial Amerikani canvas cloth, the brightly colored kanga became a bold assertion of identity and resistance.
In Lemaoana’s hands, kanga becomes a site of contemporary struggle—where histories of suppression, displacement, and resilience are embroidered into every thread. His use of this fabric invokes collective memory while asserting the enduring relevance of African textiles as political tools.
“We Won’t Move”: Resistance in Fabric
For this latest exhibition, Lemaoana presents a striking installation in two parts: a kanga textile in the Sylvia Wynter Foyer and three flags displayed on the Paulette Nardal Terrace. One of the central works, ONS DAK NIE, ONS PHOLA HIER (2025), meaning “we won’t move,” draws on the long history of resistance to displacement in South Africa.
The phrase originates from Sophiatown, a thriving cultural community demolished by the apartheid regime in 1955. It is a defiant stand against forced removal, and Lemaoana’s use of it today offers a critical reflection on current experiences of migration, gentrification, and socio-political erasure. In contrast to the musafiri—the traveler or voluntary voyager—Lemaoana’s message champions rootedness, presence, and refusal.
Global Recognition, Local Foundations
Lemaoana’s work has received international recognition. He has exhibited widely in France—including at Fondation Louis Vuitton, La Maison Rouge, MAC-VAL, and Les Abattoirs—as well as in the United States, Norway, and Italy. In South Africa, his work has been shown at the IZIKO South African National Gallery and Wits Art Museum.
His work is part of several significant collections, including the Sindika Dokolo Collection (Luanda), Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris), Lafayette Anticipations (Paris), and IZIKO South African National Gallery (Cape Town).
Artist, Educator, and Community Builder
Lemaoana holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Johannesburg and is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the University of South Africa (UNISA). He also lectures in Visual Art at UNISA and is the co-founder of Occupying the Gallery, a mentorship initiative that transforms gallery spaces into creative, collaborative studios for emerging artists.
Through his sharp aesthetic and critical voice, Lawrence Lemaoana continues to challenge the ways we see, think, and represent power in South Africa and beyond.
