*Photographed by MIn Young Lim, courtesy of The Henry Moore Foundation and the artist.*

Lungiswa Gqunta (born 1990) is a Cape Town-based visual artist working primarily across printmaking, sculpture, and installation. She holds degrees from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and the Michaelis School of Fine Arts. Gqunta is one of the founding members of iQhiya Collective - other members include Asemahle Ntlonti, Bronwyn Katz, Buhlebezwe Siwani, Bonolo Kavula, Charity Kelapile, Pinky Mayeng, Sethembile Msezane, Sisipho Ngodwana, Thandiwe Msebenzi, and Thuli Gamedze. Lungiswa Gqunta exhibited at Manifesta 12 Biennial, the 15th Istanbul Biennial, Documenta 14, Glasgow International, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art, and the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

LUCIJA ŠUTEJ: With iQhiya you engaged with performance - how did your interest in performance art start?

LUNGISWA GQUNTA: I have a limited interest in performance art as I find it difficult to engage with. It was never really part of my thinking or practice that I wanted or was interested in exploring. I was exposed to it via iQhiya Collective, which is the only time I engaged with it.

LŠ: Difficult to engage in what sense?

LG: From the performances I have seen, I found them fairly difficult to engage. Also, imagining myself in such a space and performing while being looked at makes me cringe. I like to be in the background. So, that is one of the reasons I could never enter a place like that. Artists who do performances are so incredibly brave. It really takes a certain kind of people to be able to do such works.

LŠ: How has your work in the iQhiya Collective interacted with your own practice? Are they in dialogue or separate entities?

LG: I would say that some of the things we have done in the collective work come from my practice. From that aspect - it is pretty intertwined. My practice focuses on a collective experience in terms of trying to think about how I can introduce more people into my work. Having the opportunity to work within the collective opened my practice in a new way. And I discovered that I quite enjoyed working and thinking with others. The brainstorming process of exchanging experiences and ideas was thrilling.

LŠ: Could we discuss your engagement and research in printmaking - and how that aspect of your practice developed over time?

LG: I studied Printmaking and Sculpture for my undergraduate degree at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. We were able to try out a few different subjects at the beginning of the year to find out which road one should go into. I was strong in both fields but ultimately chose sculpture, as we had to decide upon one specialisation. I always loved drawing and printmaking as they work in specific techniques that speak to me.

I have a special appreciation for embossing - some of my first prints were embossed matchsticks. It is a very subtle technique but requires familiarity with objects - you must be able to inspect your subject closely. I also enjoy etching - simply for the darkness of the ink with the contrast of the beautiful white Fabriano paper (laugh).

Artists' books also pique my interest, and many of my friends are engaging with the medium. But the interest has not been intense enough yet, to produce many. I do not know much about it, and I hope an invitation to participate in an edition would be a learning opportunity for me.

*Gathering 5.11.19 #2, 2019; photograph (250x50cm, unique). Image courtesy artist.*

LŠ: In your sculptural opus, you work extensively with nature-based materials such as clay. Is there a specific reason?

LG: In my postgraduate degree at Michaelis School of Fine Arts in Cape Town, I did a whole show just out of wood. The following exhibitions were made with glass bottles and found fabrics. I suppose that a strict nature-based materiality arrived at a later stage (laugh). For me, it was also a way to address the financial aspect of art production. How can I achieve this work without spending so much money and thinking about where the objects come from? I was also drawn to the history that certain objects carry.

*Installation view/ Riotous Assembly, “Open Studio”, Rijksacademie, Amsterdam, 2019. Image courtesy artist.*

The things I work(ed) with, the objects or the elements of my art, came from various people and were previously used for different purposes. In this sense, my practice feels very conscious. I would not say that I give objects a new lease of life - it is more of creating cycles and new purposes. For example, a beer bottle, I understand that this specific object is used in a particular way, but then it could also communicate different aspects of its existence. I was always interested in the other uses or meanings we can inscribe in objects. And I often wondered if other people think like me. Am I the only one making these connections? Is it a collective or an individual thinking? Learning this specific grammar is fantastic, but it must be read collectively. It is important that a wide audience is reached - as we all experience, engage, and see things differently.

*Installation view/ Zinodaka/ Sleep in Witness, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK, 2022. Image courtesy artist.*

*Detail of Zinodaka/ Sleep in Witness, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK, 2022. Both images courtesy artist.*

LŠ: Absolutely! Could we address the activity of sleeping and understanding water – two elements and topics vividly present in your last few shows?

LG: Yes! My last two shows focused on the activity of sleeping - how our subconscious works while also referring to the water. To explain it simply - it has been my personal and spiritual journey, of which I cannot speak too much as individual spiritual practice is one of secrecy. But a lot of my dreaming revolves around water and things that are associated with it. These dreams have found a way into my practice - as is often, my personal life affects my work. What I have been exposed to, experienced, and shared with others - are all ways of producing knowledge that we all ultimately share.

Lately, I have been preoccupied with how and where we produce knowledge. And most of the time, it is in academia that comes from a set of Western and European ideals. Whereas most of my information when doing work and research is really about the Black experience here in South Africa. It comes from the oral histories of my family, friends, and others. I find it important to note that there are other systems of knowledge that have been in existence and that come from ancestors. So, we have different places and different systems of learning that we were exposed to. The ancestral place and journey begin with dreaming - a space for discovering history. It is tied to our growing up and sleeping. The sleep element is learning and living in a different realm - a space to be researched. There are multitudes of spaces and modes in which we can learn, and they are not so Euro-Western centered.

*Installation views/ Ubuntu/A Lucid Dream, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France, 2021. Images courtesy artist.*

LŠ: And you also mentioned creating spaces of care. Is that your goal - to intentionally create such spaces of safety?

LG: I see them (exhibition spaces) more as spaces of tension, but it truly depends on the show. Sometimes the exhibitions would be very aggressive and violent. Or on the other hand, they could be places of rest and freedom. I see my shows really as a pause - a much needed space to breathe. To really take a deep breath, to reflect and recharge. There are undertones of ‘communal healing'.