Tolika Mtoliki

Tolika Mtoliki is a group exhibition bringing together South African artists around the proposition that translation extends beyond language. Objects, too, can translate. They carry histories, memories, and forms of knowledge from one context to another, from one generation to the next, and from one place to another.

Tolika is a term used across several South African languages meaning “to translate” or “to interpret”. The word derives from the Dutch tolk, meaning “interpreter”, while mtoliki refers to someone who translates or interprets. The title evokes histories of linguistic and cultural movement, as well as the transformations that accompany displacement. Translation does not mean reproducing an original meaning unchanged; it means transferring meaning into another context, where it inevitably shifts.