Simphiwe Ndzube and Zakes Mda

A conversation about the art of telling stories with the South African artist Simphiwe Ndzube, who works between Cape Town and Los Angeles and whose first solo US museum exhibition opens this month at the Denver Art Museum, and the renowned writer Zakes Mda, whose novels are widely read throughout South Africa and beyond. The two dissect their magical realist stories of post-apartheid South Africa and their experiences of America on the page and on canvas—and try to locate the source of their own magic.

This episode is guest-hosted by Kyla McMillan, a director at David Zwirner.

Ndzube’s solo exhibition at the Denver Art Museum, Oracles of the Pink Universe, runs from June 13 to October 10, 2021. Learn more about it here.

Image: Simphiwe Ndzube, The Bloom of the Corpse Flower, 2020 (detail). Artwork image courtesy Simphiwe Ndzube, as part of his solo exhibition at the Denver Art Museum