skeptical erections
Mxolisi Dolla Sapeta
skeptical erections is a book of startling visual and verbal imagination. Sapeta’s poems are short narratives of survival – his own and those of others. In a graphic language style, the book creates a world of mistrust and skepticism, tinged with humour. Despite their distortions and traumas, the characters are treated with respect and compassion.
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Sapeta is an artist who sees, feels and puts to words as much as he expresses himself through painting. His often-short poems (quintain style) carry powerful imagery if not the dire conditions. In “dreams and heroes” he writes: “each day I am repeatedly told that it’s ok, that I am truly part / of a harmony. The next day I am erased and promised to be / redefined with detailed contours.”
skeptical erections is the work of a true multimedia artist. I call him a storyteller because in skeptical erections Sapeta has proven that in a few words you can tell a story, paint a picture and evoke thought.
– Mkhulu Maphikisa
Date of publication: 2019
ISBN 978-0-9947104-4-4 / ebook ISBN 978-0-9947104-5-1
62 pages
200 x 130mm
R120.00
Mxolisi Dolla Sapeta 2021
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Mxolisi Dolla Sapeta was born in 1967 in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth/Gqeberha, where he still lives. He studied art through INTEC College and the Nelson Mandela University art school. He later taught art for six years at Port Elizabeth College, before deciding to try and make a living as a full-time artist. He has held 10 solo exhibitions and participated in many group exhibitions in South Africa and internationally. He has been involved for years in local art education, and in 2018 he founded the New Brighton Art School. In 2016 Sapeta did an MA in Creative Writing at Rhodes University. Books published |
Additional information
| Weight | 0.5 kg |
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Interviews & Articles
Interview with Mxolisi Dolla Sapeta by Tom Penfold Africa in Words, 2021 text PDF
Other Links
Other reviews
Review by Tom Penfold of skeptical erections by Mxolisi Dolla Sapeta Africa in Words, 2020 text PDF
Dolla Sapeta as visual artist
Biography and Interview: "Dolla Sapeta: Enriching the next generation" The Insider SA, n.d.
Video and biography of Dolla Sapeta as artist featured in Nando’s UK Explore 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair 2019 / Nandos UK, 2019
Article on Dolla Sapeta as painter by Penny Haw Business Day, 2009 text PDF
Letter by Dolla Sapeta on the opening of the Red Location Museum The Herald, 2009 text PDF
Article by Nkule Mabaso: "Questions of Abjection in Two Paintings by Mxolisi “Dolla” Sapeta" Africa South Art Initiative, 2018
Artist Statement by Dolla Sapeta: "The Portfolio: Mxolisi Dolla Sapeta" Mail & Guardian, 2020
On the New Brighton Art Centre founded by Dolla Sapeta
Article by Sam Venter on an exhibition by New Brighton Art School Weekend Post, 2023 text PDF
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