Event: Shadows and Mirrors by Thomas Masingi and Neo Mlangeni
When: 13 September 2025 to 19 January 2026
Opening event: Saturday, 13 September 2025, at 11:00
Where: Pretoria Art Museum
Cnr Francis Baard and Wessels Street, Arcadia Park, Arcadia
Shadows and Mirrors at the Pretoria Art Museum is a collaborative exhibition showing photographic, video art, printmaking and multi-media artworks by Thomas Masingi and Neo Mlangeni.
About the exhibition
We enjoy basking in the light and being in the spotlight. We are afraid of the dark, constantly trying to edit out the parts of ourselves that we resent so that we continue to be seen as good human beings. However, it is important to realise that darkness is where our light is born. Finding balance is the golden key to reaching one’s full potential.
This exhibition investigates issues of identity, particularly in relation to gender. There are so many debates and stereotypes about what being a man or woman is supposed to be. However, people have unique ways in which they wish to perform their masculinity or femininity. These performances of gender are usually done through the lenses of our peers, which often lead to a constant need to rehearse our identities so that we fall within what society seems acceptable.
This exhibition seeks to bring to light the shadows we carry. It is about embracing every part of ourselves in order to have a holistic experience of being. We all have aspects of our personalities that we conceal from the world, parts of ourselves that we dislike.
The concept of the shadow self is the cornerstone of Jungian psychology. It refers to the aspects of our personalities such as our fears and shortcomings. When people around us display certain traits that we dislike, we often become critical of them, thus judging them for being themselves. The judgement usually stems from the fact that we also possess these traits. We assume that we dislike them, but the reality is that we only dislike the traits that we dislike in ourselves. Therefore, one can say that others serve as mirrors for us to come face to face with these unwanted attributes. Turning a blind eye to what mirrors show us can reflect negatively on our concepts of self because we do not exist in isolation. According to the social mirror theory by the German sociologist Wilhelm Dilthey, our sense of self is highly influenced by how others view us. Since people can be mirrors, if we learn to accept them with their flaws, we will be better equipped to accept our shadow selves.
This exhibition focuses on the process of befriending or being one with the shadow, embracing the aspects of ourselves that make us somewhat vulnerable. It also encourages us to look within and to negotiate space with our darkness so that light can also find a place to dwell.
About the artists
Thomas Masingi is a South African visual artist, curator, writer and poet who was born and raised in Mokopane, Limpopo. He currently lives, studies and works in Pretoria. He is pursuing his Master of Visual Arts degree at the University of South Africa. Masingi creates art in a range of media, including but not limited to mixed-media drawing, printmaking, photography, performance and video art, and other forms of digital art. His work delves into a range of concepts surrounding masculinity and mental health, with themes such as fragility, vulnerability, depression and anxiety being heavily explored.
Neo Mlangeni is a digital artist who works in collage and is based between Pretoria and Johannesburg. Working with themes of memory, interconnectedness, duality and abstraction, Mlangeni’s practice embraces experimentation, layering digital and physical elements to explore the fragmented and fluid nature of perception.
A graduate from the University of South Africa, Mlangeni approaches art-making as a process of becoming – valuing spontaneity, imperfection and play. The work invites viewers to engage with each piece as they would with a child taking first steps: Curious, unpolished and full of emerging possibility.
Shadows and Mirrors opens on Saturday, 13 September 2025, at 11:00 at the Pretoria Art Museum, and can be viewed until Sunday, 19 January 2026.
Contact details
Hannelie du Plessis (Pretoria Art Museum)
012 358 6748/6750 or hanneliedp@tshwane.gov.za
Thomas Masingi
064 610 6549 or thomasmas2604@gmail.com
The Pretoria Art Museum is open on Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:00 to 17:00 and is closed on Mondays and public holidays.