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Lady Skollie – Good & Evil
Circa Gallery
Until July 6
It’s just before noon and I am psyching myself up to meet Lady Skollie, real name Laura Windvogel, whom I can best describe as bold, charismatic and exciting. I meet her at the entrance of Circa Gallery.
She is sporting her signature bald head, with a glass of wine in hand.
Skollie has become somewhat of a treasure in the contemporary art scene.
Her sex-positive, intersectional feminist work has seen her exhibit across the world, most notably at the Tyburn Gallery in London, and collaborate with the biggest global brands.
Her most recent notable achievement was designing the R50 sterling silver coin for the SA Mint, commemorating 25 years of constitutional democracy, and unveiling her new solo exhibition, Good & Evil.
I start by asking how I should refer to her.
“Laura is fine, or you can call me Skollie… Just don’t call me Lady,” she jokes.
In terms of the exhibition, Skollie mentions her approach to Christianity and religion as a whole.
“This show is about slotting myself into big stories ... and making them about myself and my people. And being a woman in South Africa, which is a very extreme sport.
“Since I was small, I think I understood that if I used humour I could open people up to talk about way more serious things and this work is bright and colourful, even though it’s about a lot of darkness.
It’s another way of tricking people into talking about heavy things… I want people to understand that good is not always good and evil is not always evil.”
Walking through the exhibition, Skollie’s immersion into big stories is translated into large and elaborate pieces that tackle heavy subject matter.
The works range from still lifes inspired by Faldela Williams’ The Cape Malay Cookbook to pieces where she imagines herself as a female deity of sorts in ’n Skaans Teen Die Donker (Protection Against The Dark).
One of the most poignant works is Papsak Propaganda III: And I Was Really Far Out And You Thought I Was Waving, But I Was Drowning, which tackles the issue of alcoholism – the “dop system”, where workers, predominantly coloured, were paid with jugs of sweet white wine instead of money.
Although the system was outlawed in 1961, the coloured community is still dealing with the legacy of perverse degradation.
I’m fascinated with Skollie’s interpretation of |Kaggen, the shape-shifting trickster god who takes the shape of many different animals, usually a praying mantis or a snake.
Skollie depicts |Kaggen in two separate works, one where the demiurge is a praying mantis and in the other a snake.
She admittedly reads a lot of poetry and credits writers such as Stevie Smith, whose Not Waving But Drowning was a source of inspiration for Papsak Propaganda, and Diana Ferrus, whose poem I’ve Come To Take You Home, about Sarah Baartman, gave inspiration to another of the many highlights of the exhibition.
Skollie also drew inspiration from Dalene Matthee’s Fiela se Kind, as well as Adam Small’s drama Kanna Hy Kô Hystoe.
Circa representative Stephanie Le Roy says partnering with Skollie blends perfectly with the gallery’s creative vision.
“Lady Skollie has carved out her own space in the South African and international art market. Her vision is clear, her voice is powerful and her work is breathtaking.
Circa was built for shows like hers and we are thrilled to be working with her, and we’re determined to realise her vision for this exhibition.”
Good & Evil is a captivating expression of an artist’s commentary on social, cultural and historical truths of which we rarely get a glimpse.
