‘Holding a Thought - the puppetry of Ukwanda’ will launch at Micealis Gallery on 23 July 2025. Curated by Premesh Lalu and Kurt Campbell, this exhibition engages the work of CHR Artists in Residence, Siphokazi Mpofu, Luyanda Nogodlwana and Sipho Ngxolo who make up the Ukwanda Puppetry and Design Arts Collective.
Following their long-term engagements with kinetic objects and puppetry practices, ‘Holding a Thought’ traces Ukwanda’s practice alongside the Handspring Puppet Company, the Barrydale Annual Reconciliation Day Festival, and most recently The Herds. This latter work reached millions across the world as they undertook a 20 000km journey from Kinshasa to the arctic circle as part of The Walk Productions arts intervention on climate change. For the CHR, they have placed before us the significance of the hand and the head for the future of the humanities. The enigma of the art object thus conceived paves the way for ensuring that humanist thought remains indispensable in dealing with our planetary predicament.