WIE DINK DJY IS DJY? BY DION CUPIDO

A solo exhibition at the WORLDART gallery (54 Church Street, Cape Town) from 1- 22 November.

Wie dink djy is djy? or in English, Who do you think you are? This is the title of Dion Cupido’s new solo exhibition of new paintings that opens at the WORLDART gallery in Cape Town on Thursday 1 November.

Cupido, known for his portraits painted with an urban edge, grew up in Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats. He is one of the few voices from Cape Towns so-called “Coloured” community to speak out about his identity and the realities – perceived and real – that come with carrying this label in South Africa today.

Wie dink djy is djy? does not only ask the obvious question of who you think you are or what your perception of yourself is. It is also a confrontational statement – one of challenging authority or opinion. All of this is relevant in Cupido’s art. The subjects of his paintings are covered in marks that vary from toilet wall scribblings to graffiti associated with the street and with gangs. It speaks of people who know about living a marginalised existence, both before and after the fall of Apartheid.

DION CUPIDO (b.1973) lives and works in Cape Town. His work is primarily a combination of abstraction and portraiture, using street art techniques to explore memory and identity. Writer and art historian Ashraf Jamal recently observed that Cupido “represents the very newly minted post-transitional moment in SA art; a moment in which our dark history and its democratic afterglow are both beside the point.”