MAHUBE USES GLOBAL CANVASS TO SHOWCASE HER ART

 Brümilda Swartbooi

Riveting and thought-provoking best describe Johannesburg-born visual artist Mahube Diseko’s latest international exhibition on queer representation.

By day, Mahube is an intern at Community Development’s Information Services, assisting with digitising the City’s museums and galleries. This work intertwines with her artistic passion, which she pursues in her free time.

As an artist, she recently showcased an exhibition titled Chommie – The Digital Closet in collaboration with Anna Ehrenstein and Brian Montshiwa in Amsterdam from 17 January to 23 February 2025. The exhibition explored queer representation in media and the power of algorithms through video, sculpture, and installation.

“The exhibition is focused on the digital age and the experiences of queer identifying individuals in the digital age. What inspired the work was a lot of personal experiences,” Mahube explains.

She adds that the work critiques the discrimination faced by queer-identifying people and examines how queer representation in mass media is often shaped by the socio-political context of post-apartheid South Africa.

With queer representation as the overarching theme, the exhibition also interrogates how mass media commercialises queerness. “This commercialisation, this very superficial representation of queerness, also gives rise to a lot of very limiting beliefs and understanding of our identities,” Mahube elaborates.

Chommie – The Digital Closet features a three-channel video installation and sculptures that blur the lines between digital and physical realities. Using artificial intelligence, Mahube and her collaborators crafted works that reflect the visibility of LGBTQIA+ communities in the digital age, aiming to spark dialogue around queer representation.

This is not Mahube’s first international exhibition — she has previously participated in two shows in Germany.

Holding a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Fine Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand, Mahube channels her creativity through textiles, photography, and multimedia art. Her work often delves into themes of gender and sexuality.

Known for her outgoing nature, ambition, and curiosity, Mahube remains grounded as an artist while looking ahead to future projects.

“I’m looking forward to just making more work and showing my work in more places. I would like to increase my reach as an artist,” she says

 
SOURCED FROM THE JOBURG WEBSITE.