Opening 22 May 2024 and running until 15 September 2024, GROOT GAT is the third exhibition to mark Lady Skollie’s 2022 win of the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist Award. As a Cape Town born artist, Lady Skollie focuses her practice on addressing difficult questions around the gaps in her heritage caused by the effects of colonialism within the Cape coloured communities.

The title of the exhibition refers to not only the direct translation of “big hole” which alludes to the huge gaps within the history of South Africa, but Groot Gat or Boesman’s Gat is a freshwater cave in Kimberley. The site is a reminder of the pain caused by the gap in the shared history that many people of this community experience because of the effects of colonialism. The cave was considered to be a sacred space for the indigenous community who used it as a fishing site, and a space for rituals. Since being seized by colonialists, it has lost its original purpose.

Within GROOT GAT, Lady Skollie creates a fantasy realm inspired by Boesman’s Gat, a space whereby the San, the Khoi, the Griqua, and all Brown people from South Africa live in an environment filled with tradition and a shared undisrupted history. Within this space, you will not only be confronted with vibrant and monumental cave drawings which are unaffected by time and vandalism, but you will also experience artworks that speak to generational trauma which is very present throughout several communities in South Africa.

We invite you to come and experience this homecoming exhibition by the renowned South African artist Lady Skollie, and to truly think where you are from, where you are going and how you want to be defined.