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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Meleko Mokgosi: Democratic Intuition

Sept 29 – Dec 12, 2020
6–24 Britannia Street London WC1X 9JD

Last October, the artist Meleko Mokgosi told The New York Times that “first-world” viewers need to embrace the fact that “the world doesn’t revolve around them. There are other histories.” The exhibition title “Democratic Intuition” is a reference to Gayatri Spivak’s theory that democracy is dependent upon accessible education. Mokgosi has created an eight-part epic of multiple panels that depict southern African life and folklore. Once again, he adopts a traditional European painting style to express a distinctly southern African experience of history and life. —E.C.

Meleko Mokgosi, “Bread, Butter, and Power,” 2018 (detail) © Meleko Mokgosi.