Popihuise

Popihuise – The Afrikaans word ‘pophuis’ refers to a doll’s house game familiar to children. Vuyo Mabheka created the Popihuise series in reference to this game, based on the few photos he has of himself as a child. He creates interiors and scenes in which he appears, sometimes accompanied by imaginary friends represented by people from his community whom he has secretly photographed, sometimes in the presence of a fantasised, faceless father figure. The series is built around very few elements: drawings, collages and photographs all coexist in a universe that at first glance seems naïve and tender. Gleaming cars and skyscrapers, burning tyres and new pavilions are set against fields of crops, colourful birds, graffiti and flowering trees. Amidst these images that set liberalism and modernity in tension is a lonely child, almost helpless in the face of the difficult reality that surrounds him: Vuyo Mabheka, who is rewriting his memory and reclaiming his world.