NEL | Black is Blue

Nel Presents Black is Blue.

Black is Blue (2019-ongoing) is concerned with the widespread practice of using seawater for healing and spiritual purposes. Deriving from Nguni and other traditions, this practice is linked to the ‘people of water’, usually water-based diviners, for whom the sea is a realm of ancestors, a site for spiritual cleansing and grounding; the sea holds potential to heal and its curative powers live in the water. While in the past such practices occurred at the coast, with urbanization and industrialization, the practice has been adapted and now one can purchase bottles of sea water inland. The main purpose of this project is to describe and artistically explore beliefs and practices involving bottled seawater for spiritual, health and healing purposes.

Black is Blue (2019-ongoing) is an invitation for people of all ages to be immersed in a sensory exploration in a durational performance with Sibeko lying on two deck-chairs facing down with four fish hooks attached to his back in a blue lit room, with a floor covered in sea salt. The work inspires people to embrace the myth of an inland sea as a way to rethink the urban space, who belongs in it and how they occupy it. Through a comical yet thought-provoking video of a man fishing from a puddle on the streets of Johannesburg, Black is Blue(2019-ongoing) calls on humanity to return to the sea to repair wounds and for spiritual grounding.

The durational performance will take place Tuesdays to Fridays from 10 am to 4 pm and on Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm. It opens on Thursday the 3^rd of June at 5 pm and will be part of First Thursdays in Cape Town. Everybody is welcome.

Please note we follow COVID19 protocols. Please wear a mask, sanitise your hands upon entering the gallery and follow generous social distancing.

We wait to welcome you.