樂伯罕 干雅
Reconstruction of a Family
灼熱的艷陽刺穿皮膚，我花了數週時間在新貝特斯達的碎石路。新貝特斯達為東開普省卡魯的小鎮，居民稱之為一個「村莊」，在我詞彙定義中的一個外來詞。珊恩葛蕾芙是一位美國青年，住在開普敦和新貝特斯達之間，負責修復保護海倫・馬丁斯和庫斯・馬卡斯的『貓頭鷹屋』和其他水泥雕塑作品。她介紹了許多村民。如有位養蜂人，她在後院用蜂蠟製作化妝品；如一位用馬尾製作琴弦的弦樂器製造商。我們在牲畜拍賣場，看見農民爭先恐後買小犢，並遇到了「 tannie」（阿姨；姑媽之意，南非荷蘭文）在她的茶園裡將安東・伕卡的劇本從英語翻譯成南非荷蘭語。用劇院舞台的小模型，以及人物的剪影等方式，我為村民們講故事，安東・伕卡的戲劇《麥加之路》，以及蘿拉・布克斯著作《特立獨行》，是關於海倫·馬丁斯的章節。說故事以多種方式講述矛盾，混和一個人的記憶與幻想。這項計畫並不能證明一個人的存在，卻證明了他們的個人的存在的方式，分享了一杯茶、自製薑汁汽水或自釀的啤酒。這些珍貴的資產歸屬到一個特定的共享時光，同時也讓幻想更具體，在一個小小宇宙中「執行」社區的理想。代代相傳的口述史建構出虛構故事，金伯利鮑威爾說：「口述史是活著的人們講述過去的故事。通常這些都是他們自己和身旁的人的聲活故事。口述史通常也包個人主觀的意念以及細節。」這項計畫的主要靈感來自安東・伕卡的劇作《火車司機》。


With the scotching sun piercing the skin, I spent weeks walking along the gravel roads of the small town Nieu Bethesda in the Karoo, Eastern Cape which the residents call a village, a term foreign in my vocabulary. Shawn Graaff – an American young woman who lives between Cape Town and Nieu Bethesda and works on the restoration and conservation of the Owl House and the cement sculptures created by Helen Martins and Koos Malgas. She introduced us to many of the villagers, including a beekeeper who makes cosmetic products in her backyard from beeswax, a violin string maker using horse tails to make the strings, we drove to a livestock auction where the farmers bid for sheep and met a ‘tannie’ in her tea garden who translates Athol Fugard’s plays from English to Afrikaans. Through the construction of miniature theatre sets with silhouette cut-outs of the characters in the diorama, I stage the stories the villagers narrated to me in relation to Athol Fugard’s play Road to Mecca and a chapter from Lauren Beukes’ book Maverick about Helen Martins. Reconstruction of a Family confronts the conflicting stories, which are told in multiple ways, even by the same person — a combination of memory and fantasy. The work does not attest to being documentation of a people but presents their personal narratives, which they share over a cup of tea, homemade ginger ale or the locally brewed beer. These prized possessions hearken back to a particular time but are also vehicles to a fantasy that allows for a momentary space to ‘perform’ ideals of community. Fictive narratives depend on oral histories, genealogist, Kimberley Powell states, “Oral histories are stories told by living people about the past. Generally, these are stories of their own life and the lives of the people around them. Often an oral history includes details and stories that exist nowhere other than in the individual’s mind.” The work is mainly inspired by Athol Fugard’s plays Train Driver.






About the photographer：

Lebohang Kganye is an artist living and working in Johannesburg. Kganye received her introduction to photography at the Market Photo Workshop, in Johannesburg in 2009 and completed the Advanced Photography Programme in 2011. She studied Fine Arts at the University of Johannesburg and is currently doing her Masters in Fine Arts at the Witwatersrand University. Kganye forms a new generation of contemporary South African photographers, although primarily a photographer, Kganye’s photography often incorporates her interest in sculpture and performance. Over the past seven years, she has participated in photography masterclasses and group exhibitions locally and internationally. Kganye was the recipient of the Tierney Fellowship Award in 2012, leading to her solo exhibition Ke Lefa Laka. She created an animation from the series, which was launched on Mandela Day 2014 in Scotland, entitled Pied Piper’s Voyage. She was also awarded the Jury Prize at the Bamako Encounters Biennale of African Photography in 2015 and was the recipient of the CAP Prize 2016 in Basel. Kganye recently received the coveted award for the Sasol New Signatures Competition 2017, leading to a solo show in 2018. Kganye’s work forms part of several private and public collections, most notably the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pennsylvania and the Walther Collection in Ulm.

Website: lebohangkganye.co.za