PRESS RELEASE
RICKY DYALOYI: Limits of Our Longing
Oct 8 – Oct 29, 2020
"Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for things in anyone’s head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children... We do not fall back on cliché’s or merely harp on the struggle against imperialism and colonialism in theoretical terms, but rather we point out concrete things…Hide nothing from the masses of our people, Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, or failures, claim no easy victories."
- Amilcar Cabral, Revolution in Guinea
In Limits of our Longing, Dyaloyi’s 8th solo exhibition at Everard Read CT, the artist continues to interrogate the nuances of the human condition.
Conjuring up crowds which force us to confront ourselves and be confronted, the artist is at times playful, and at other times sombre and even accusatory. Dyaloyi investigates the hopes, dreams, fears and longings of his fellow South Africans. One finds one’s self thinking of the remarkable care that Dyaloyi takes in describing each individual, their gait and demeanour captured with the most minimal of gestures. This sensitively asserts Dyaloyi’s deep empathy with humanity, and allows us to single out fellow humans in the crowd, and to experience our own empathy. These are not the faceless, nameless masses, but a collection of individuals thrown together by fate. Dyaloyi directly invites us to contemplate what might have thrown them together and thereby mine our own sense of collective human experience, memory and history – remembering where we have come from and questioning where we are going to.
*Face masks are required and must be worn when visiting the gallery
