Thami Mnyele Foundation fellow Neo Image Matloga was awarded the 10th ABN AMRO Art Prize last year.

On 18th May this year, his exhibition 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 was opened at Hermitage Amsterdam as part of the prize.

Matloga (South Africa, 1993) uses photos, ink and charcoal to create 'collage paintings', offering an insight into the life that surrounded him in South Africa. The paintings are titled in the artist's native language, as a proud wink to his native region of Limpopo. The scenes are based on memories from his childhood. They are imaginative situations full of emotions, in which he mixes the absurd and surreal with passion, conflict and cheerfulness.

In his new work, Matloga's shows his characters sitting on the beach, in an intimate embrace in a swimming pool or together in a cafe. They fix their eyes on the visitor, but their heads are consistentin profile, possibly a reference to ethnic profiling. In this way, Matloga leads the gaze of his characters and that of the viewer ‒ far beyond the canvas. The title of the exhibitionalong came your eyesreflects this poetic play in which the gaze is pulled back and forth.

Read more on ABN website

There is a nice article on NRC of the interview with the artist.
Read more here