Rhode, who was born in South Africa and is based in Berlin, engages a variety of visual forms including photography, performance, drawing, and stop-motion animation to create engaging and poignant narratives. Rhode’s experience as a member of one of the first post-apartheid generations in South Africa has been a major influence on his work, leading him to approach topics such as poverty and violence from a personal perspective. His work features imagery of everyday and consumer objects, such as paper clips, light bulbs, and champagne flutes, found in desolate urban settings as a reference to his upbringing, but also to broader universal ideas including desire, luxury, and the influx of consumerism into South African society. Working within the contexts of Johannesburg and Berlin—cities undergoing significant social and political changes—Rhode’s artworks embrace a vibrant spontaneity and are infused with both the language of the street and the dynami cs of body-based performance art of the 1970s.

photo artinasia.com

The exhibition title is a reference to a quotation of cultural theorist Roland Barthes who wrote, referencing the depiction of photographic subjects, “photography set up, not a perception of the being there of an object…but a perception of its having been there.” Rhode’s photographs, in which he increasingly appears, though often in disguise, explore this idea further. By inserting himself into the photographic image and through his mark making, Rhode creates records and traces of “having been there.”

photo walkerartcenter.org

via artinasia.com

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