gauteng reviews

Like their most obvious South African predecessor, Penny Siopis’ video installation My Lovely Day, Preller’s works extend beyond nostalgia into the political, albeit subtly. Their depictions of sanitized suburbs Brixton and Langlaagte underscore the gulf between apartheid Johannesburg of the 1960’s, and the harsher realities of the postcolonial megacity. Certain images, such as the third panel of the Brixton, 1960’s series, seem permeated with the very particular anxiety felt by the fragile idyll’s inhabitants. As such, this body of work sets up a revealing dialogue with works by David Goldblatt, Guy Tillim and even Ismail Farouk, all of whom have tracked changes in the city’s character and inhabitants.

A noteworthy development in Preller’s work is her increased willingness to push the figure to the periphery of her images, in one case, Montgomery Park, 1960’s, almost excising human presence entirely. This represents potentially fertile new territory for Preller, whose previous bodies of work have chosen the more immediate route of predominant figuration.
 
This shift also allows the banality of suburban architecture to emerge from its role as muted backdrop to play a more pivotal role in establishing the temporal character of the exhibition.

Overall, ‘Stills’ marks an important progression for Preller, and one which will hopefully catapult her to greater profile in the Johannesburg scene.