PRESS RELEASE
BOYTCHIE: SORRY NO CHANGE
Sep 11 – Sep 27, 2025
SORRY NO CHANGE a solo exhibition by Boytchie
Opening reception: Thursday 11th September - 6pm
WALKABOUT: Join the artist for a discussion about his exhibition and practice at 11:30 on Saturday 27 September 2025
“In order to survive and thrive under capitalism, you have to operate with a level of selfishness” - Boytchie 2025
KA$H OUT – an ongoing body of work by Cape Town artist Boytchie – is a visual journey into a world of stark contrasts, where hunger and greed collide in a helpless future. Each artwork captures the relentless pursuit of profit, a power that requires the erasure of (our) humanity. In his fifth solo exhibition of the series, SORRY NO CHANGE, Boytchie expands his dystopian universe. He reminds us that the world we live in is fractured by greed, and that survival itself will continue to be an act of radical resistance.
An artist speaks to and of the world they inhabit, amplifying its essence through vision and form. Boytchie plays this role with sharpness and a cross-disciplined approach. With SORRY NO CHANGE, Boytchie creates a “very nihilistic mirror of our world”, acknowledging “the atrocities we as humans continue to inflict on one another”. A grief forced upon those by a system that punishes the selfless. And a warning of the consequences we risk: what is likely to happen when we allow accumulation to devour simplicity?
Themes of cynicism, isolation and restlessness merge with graphic symbolism: dystopian cityscapes, distorted figures, and tangible currencies, like bags of money and guns. The vivid imagery of this universe explores the damaged psychology of subjects in distress. The use of colour creates a heightened approach that conveys the unsettling nature of Boytchie’s dystopian realm – perhaps not yet actualised, but nonetheless eerily all too familiar.
A defining motif is the recurring image of death. Death carries a uniqueness in KA$H OUT. For those left behind, it is a freedom not even the system can take away. The use of skulls and skeletal figures anchors this ideology in the trope of the memento mori, a reminder of our vulnerabilities and coming death. A question Boytchie prompts his audience to ask themselves: if death will come and erase me, will my pursuit have been worthwhile?
Boytchie’s process begins with rough sketches that evolve into an arsenal of paintings, drawings and woodwork. He primarily uses enamel, oil and roof paint to create almost (or literally) sculptural works, with graphic, intense mark-making as a central concern. “There’s something about the permanence of marks that add to the work,” he explains. This approach allows him to capture bitter endings in forms that are strikingly bold and architecturally complex.
The series speaks on behalf of those with sobered throats. Exhausted from either forced starvation, or the calling out of unending systemic abuse. That frustration finds form in the work. In STOLEN GOODS, theft becomes routine for survival. Pieces like CLUBBING (1-3), DEVOUR THY ENEMIES and SLEEP OF REASON confront us with dystopian violence, an inescapable reckoning of anger roaming untamed. Boytchie’s intentions are clear, as he states: “This is the evil that rises when reason is abandoned.” More than this, the work serves as an existential testimony that speaks to the ongoing atrocities taking place to this day. Boytchie is clearly and painfully moved by the genocides happening in Gaza, Sudan, Yemen and the Congo. These horrors are depicted and documented in paintings like NOW NOW, where greed collapses homes into rubble and civilizations into barren land, all in the name of profit.
Boytchie says, “My aim is for the viewer to be shocked out of complacency and really think about their impact in the world. People are committing genocide with no consequences, or stealing land and scamming working-class people out of money.”
We’ve all most likely found ourselves in a situation where the only words available to our tongues are “Sorry, no change”. Boytchie’s practice places us at the bitter end of these moments, where disappointment is mirrored by the failures of our societies and governments. We must realise that every moment we helplessly witness becomes our history and our legacy, written faster than we can resist. How much longer can we passively accept grand speeches with empty promises? Are we to feel powerless in the lack of change? Or are we to make change, by digging in the pockets of those who hide it from us? That, after all, is a radical survival we are yet to practice.
To put it simply, KA$H OUT is about the exhaustion slowly bubbling under the surface of our skin, brewing within us. It’s a prophecy of the day we finally say: enough is enough.
- Nirel Sithole
Artist portrait by Nirel Sithole
