Landsale 2.0 considers the violence of maps and the vested interests held in those that design these land surveys.

Maps are entirely subjective. History mistakenly treats maps as documents of truth and not documents for invasion and exploitation.

This series of paintings looks at the relationship between South Africa and Britain, and their respective legacies of how these countries view themselves through the history of invasion.

The sublime and intoxicating power behind invasion,
an addictive power,
can lead to various elaborate excuses [histories] of why these events happened.

Join us for the opening of this exhibition on Thursday 11 January, 6-8 PM.

About The Artist:

Ava Grauls (1982) is a South African / Belgian artist based in London. Her work explores speculative questions regarding nationalised legitimacy, cultural legacy, and environmental influences on identity from a geographic perspective. Her practice is multidisciplinary, utilising video, performance, painting, and music.
Grauls’ work is often inspired by her own experiences of living through clashing or disappearing histories. She was born in South Africa during apartheid; her family moved to Belgium when she was a child and further relocated to a British asbestos mine in Eswatini.
Her practice has been shaped by these experiences, directing her to question forms of influence and education that manage memory. Her perspective is of a traveller seeking maps and what the maps say of the land and of those that conquer