Timed to run over Heritage Month, Sisonke Gallery hosts an exhibition that reflects on Cape Malay identity. This is the second iteration of A Glimpse Between Memoirs, a powerful joint exhibition by artists Shaunez Benting and Whaleed Ahjum, which was previously exhibited at the Bo-Kaap Cultural Hub in February 2024. The show is presented in collaboration with Our Cape Town Heritage (OCTH), an NPO that is committed to protecting, promoting and preserving heritage and culture by exploring visual art and history through education, and is curated by Aaliyah Ahmed.
Through childhood memories and the echoes of apartheid, A Glimpse Between Memoirs explores the tension between history and speculation. Drawing on nostalgia, not as escapism but as a critical lens, the artists investigate how the stories we inherit (and the ones we choose to tell) shape the futures we dare to imagine, shining a light on how art can disrupt the status quo and honour ancestral legacies while opening up space for future possibility.
Benting’s work reanimates the marginalised spaces of his youth through vibrant composite visuals that blur memory and imagination. Ahjum, whose practice is grounded in research and oil painting, delves into his Southeast Asian roots to uncover cultural linkages often overlooked in dominant narratives. Together, their works weave a rich and layered portrait of collective self-authorship. Themes of resilience, misrepresentation and cultural reclamation (reclaiming the right to remember and reimagine) are central to this conversation.
This exhibition, which is sponsored by House Union Block (HUB), is a vital contribution to our country’s month-long September conversation around identity, storytelling and transformation through art.
All the details:
A Glimpse Between Memoirs: Until 28 September 2025.
Venue: Sisonke Gallery, Cape Heritage Hotel, 90 Bree Street, Cape Town CBD
For more on Sisonke, visit www.capeheritage.co.za/sisonke-gallery/
For more information on HUB visit https://houseunionblock.co.za/
