Tonight, Gallery MOMO in the leafy, cosmopolitan hub of Rosebank, Johannesburg, becomes the epicenter of South Africa’s contemporary art scene as it officially opens Dakalo – The Ultimate Gift. In an eagerly anticipated partnership with Absa and the South African National Association for the Visual Arts (SANAVA), this debut solo exhibition by visual artist, curator, and scholar Kutlwano Monyai marks her inaugural showcase since winning the prestigious Absa L’Atelier Art Award in 2024. As one of the continent’s longest-standing and most respected visual arts development platforms, the exhibition represents a monumental milestone in Monyai’s artistic journey, showcasing the transformative opportunities created through visionary cultural investment.
The title of the exhibition, Dakalo, is a Tshivenda word meaning joy or happiness, serving as both its name and its deep philosophical anchor. Rather than presenting joy as a simple, static emotional destination, Monyai positions it as an ongoing, daily practice of returning to gratitude, hope, and human connection despite experiences of loss and uncertainty. Through a deeply evocative body of work that masterfully combines polyethylene, concrete, wood, and crocheted materials, she invites audiences to sit with the deeply personal and universal relationship between grief, healing, and joy, contemplating how pain, memory, and resilience intertwine to shape both personal and collective identities.
The exhibition begins from a place of grief and gradually unfolds into a meditation on transformation. Through fractured forms, woven structures, and reconstructed domestic materials, Monyai reflects on the ways communities inherit, carry, and ultimately reshape histories of trauma, recognizing mourning not merely as an experience of absence, but as a powerful catalyst for empathy, healing, and renewal. Commending Monyai’s vulnerability and courage, Dr. Paul Bayliss, Senior Art and Museum Curator at Absa Group, notes that her work courageously examines the coexistence of grief and joy, demonstrating that healing is rarely linear. He highlights how Monyai has transformed everyday materials into powerful sculptural narratives that offer deep insight into the human experience, demonstrating that joy is often discovered through our capacity to rebuild, reconnect, and imagine new possibilities together.
Born in 1996, Kutlwano Monyai has steadily established herself as one of South Africa’s most promising emerging contemporary artists. Having recently completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine and Applied Arts at Tshwane University of Technology, her practice has been shaped through exhibitions at the Pretoria Art Museum, the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, the Turbine Art Fair, Modern Arts Projects South Africa, and numerous collaborative initiatives. Her selection as one of the 2024 Absa L’Atelier Art Ambassadors represents another important chapter in a career defined by thoughtful experimentation and critical engagement with contemporary social realities.
Ultimately, Dakalo – The Ultimate Gift testifies to the enduring role of the Absa L’Atelier Art programme in nurturing artists whose work expands cultural conversations and enriches South Africa’s creative landscape. For lovers of contemporary culture and artistic expression, this exhibition is a sanctuary and an absolute must-visit on your cultural itinerary this season, offering a beautiful space to pause, reflect, and celebrate the incredible capacity of the human spirit to heal.
Exhibition Details:
Exhibition:Dakalo – The Ultimate Gift by Kutlwano Monyai
