Multimedia installation "To Be King" by Christine Dixie at Iwalewahaus – Exhibition opening on May 11, 2022

The sculpture Black Infanta, counterpoint to the central position of the king in the multimedia installation To Be King. Photo: © Christine Dixie.

Against this background, Christine Dixie tells a story of a loss of power in her installation To Be King: the king is "dethroned." In the process, the artist stages an interplay between different positions in the space that are networked by lines of sight: the place of the central observer, the king, is now taken by characters from the periphery. In this way, the positions are called into question, and the fragility of the established order becomes visible and tangible. "My shifting roles as mother, artist, and academic, as well as the reality of my life in post-colonial Makhanda, South Africa, were the lenses through which I viewed both Foucault's text Las Meninas and Velásquez's painting Las Meninas," the artist explains. "My fascination with this text and this painting was the beginning of a process that led me to create To Be King."

Renowned artist Christine Dixie has exhibited regularly in South Africa, the United States, and Europe. Thorough research, particularly her engagement with archival imagery, is characteristic of her approach to the subjects she works with artistically. Her work is represented in national and international collections, including the New York Public Library, Smithsonian National Museum, Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Durban Art Gallery, Iziko Museum of South Africa, and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Museum of Art.