Press

Press Materials · 2026

Africa Curated Launches Traveling Exhibition Program With The Weight of Holding

Chapter I: Paintings by Thabiso Dakamela, with Yokanna in dialogue

Chapter I: The Weight of Holding was Africa Curated's inaugural presentation. It was presented at Honeypot L.A. in Los Angeles on 3 June 2026 and at Gallery Anderson Smith in Atlanta on 27 and 28 August 2026.

Structured as a paced exhibition rather than a survey, The Weight of Holding examines contemporary figuration as a site of interior life, psychological pressure, and collective memory. The exhibition poses a central question: What does it cost to be seen fully, without performance, through paint rather than narrative?

The installation privileges restraint and clarity through deliberate sequencing and a defined hierarchy. Each work is given space to stand independently, allowing viewers to engage the paintings without spectacle.

Anchored by a focused body of work by Thabiso Dakamela, the exhibition unfolds from intimacy to movement, tracing a progression from stillness and care to communal rhythm. The presentation opens with The Women Who Hold Me, installed with full visual space, and culminates in Jazz Night, presented alone as the final statement within Dakamela's body of work.

A distinct chapter of paintings by Yokanna enters in dialogue, introducing fragmentation and material disruption into the figurative field. Where Dakamela emphasizes presence and composure, Yokanna exposes instability, extending the exhibition's inquiry into visibility, surface, and the emotional weight carried by the figure.

"This exhibition is built on clarity and control. Each work is given the authority to hold the room. Thabiso establishes the spine of the exhibition. Yokanna fractures it. The dialogue is intentional." Roslidah Okoth, Co-Founder and Curator, Africa Curated

The Weight of Holding marks Chapter I of Africa Curated's traveling program. Documentation, condition reporting, and installation follow institutional standards across every city in the tour.

The Atlanta presentation took place at Gallery Anderson Smith on 27 and 28 August 2026.

Presentation History · Atlanta

Exhibition

The Weight of Holding · Chapter I

Dates

27 and 28 August 2026

Venue

Gallery Anderson Smith
1401 Peachtree Street NE, Suite A200
Atlanta, GA 30309

Medium

Painting and mixed media

About the Artists

Thabiso Dakamela is a Zimbabwean-born, Johannesburg-based figurative painter whose practice centers on the physical intelligence of paint. Working across medium and large-scale formats, he builds compositions through layered application, controlled tonal relationships, and material density. His portraits function as psychological states rather than narrative scenes, examining the tension between exterior composure and interior pressure. His work has been presented internationally in solo and group exhibitions.

Yokanna (born 1993, Kampala, Uganda) is a contemporary painter working in mixed media, known for materially driven figuration created through palette knife application and layered surfaces. His practice treats the surface as an archive, built and reworked until the figure becomes a record of pressure. Yokanna's work resists quick photographic resolution, insisting on in-person viewing where texture and physical presence carry meaning. His work is held in private collections internationally.

About Africa Curated

Africa Curated is a traveling curatorial program that develops and presents contemporary African artists across United States cities. Each chapter is anchored by one artist, developed with the artists over months, and presented in a limited number of venues per year. Works are owned by the program outright, with no consignment arrangements. Documentation, condition reporting, handling, and placement follow institutional standards.

The program was founded in 2026 by Roslidah Okoth, Co-Founder and Curator, and Branislav Petrovic, Co-Founder.

# # #

Curator's Statement

The Weight of Holding

The Weight of Holding unfolds as a spatial progression rather than a survey. The exhibition does not attempt breadth. It operates through restraint.

At its center is a precise inquiry: What does it cost to remain visible without performance?

Contemporary figuration often negotiates visibility as spectacle. In this exhibition, the figure operates under pressure. Composure is not assumed. It is constructed. Surface becomes a site of containment, abrasion, and endurance.

Thabiso Dakamela builds density through tonal control and layered material application. His figures do not narrate events. They register interior states. Weight is carried through posture, chromatic compression, and structural containment. Stillness is never passive. It holds tension.

The presentation opens with The Women Who Hold Me, installed with deliberate spatial clarity. The work establishes the exhibition's internal architecture. Care becomes structure. Presence is shaped through discipline. As the sequence progresses, compositional fields expand and contract, culminating in Jazz Night, where rhythm emerges without dissolving composure. Movement becomes collective while control remains intact.

Yokanna enters in formal dialogue rather than a thematic response. Where Dakamela constructs density and composure, Yokanna interrupts through abrasion and layered disruption. His surfaces are built, scraped, and reworked until the image records pressure rather than illustration. Fragmentation becomes a method of inquiry.

Together, the works examine how interiority survives exposure. These figures do not ask to be seen. They endure being seen.

The Weight of Holding establishes the foundational framework for Africa Curated's traveling program. Each chapter will build cumulatively, prioritizing disciplined spatial sequencing, placement integrity, and sustained cultural presence beyond a single venue or moment.

The objective is not immediacy. It is permanence.