In Nanna’s Kitchen, artist Aaron Philander reflects on the complexities of identity and belonging through a deeply personal engagement with found and salvaged materials. The exhibition navigates the layered and often troubled question of colouredness in South Africa, offering a visual journey of self-discovery, healing, and reconnection.

Philander’s practice reclaims objects sourced primarily from his own shed—a space where forgotten items accumulate, each carrying traces of past lives. These materials, despite their wear and disuse, are imbued with social and familial histories. Reassembled into new forms, they become vessels for memory and meaning, stitching together narratives of ancestry, community, and home. Central to this body of work is the enduring presence of the artist’s late grandmother, affectionately known as Nanna.

The title, Nanna’s Kitchen, evokes the heart of the coloured household where Philander’s understanding of identity was first shaped. It is a tribute to the everyday rituals, warmth, and chaos that define these spaces—where the smell of food, the sound of singing, the overlapping voices of family, and the worn textures of lived-in furniture form a sensory landscape of belonging.

Through these works, Philander brings the intimacy of home into the gallery, inviting viewers to reflect on the intersections of memory, material, and meaning in shaping who we are

The exhibition is on display from 26 June to 31 July 2025