WILMA CRUISE | Where are we going?

WILMA CRUISE 

Where are we going?

12 April – 03 May 2025 | Everard Read Franschhoek

Everard Read Franschhoek is proud to present a new exhibition by Wilma Cruise entitled Where are we going?

Opening Reception: Saturday 12th of April @ 11AM

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Geographic dislocation and its consequent suffering are pervasive throughout history. Wilma Cruise explores this cyclical theme in her latest solo at Everard Read in Franschhoek, in April 2025. With Where are we going? Cruise returns to the subject of migration, first investigated in her 2020 solo 1984 Fight or Flight at Everard Read in Cape Town.

In this iteration, the magnitude of migration is made blatant through the size of the sculpted armada. Seventeen packed boats represent the waves of determined and desperate people who continue to cross seas in perilous conditions, in the hopes of a better life. They attempt to leave their own countries for those they perceive to be safe from war, starvation, persecution and misogyny. People driven from home leave behind much (if not everything), only to face more obstacles as they try to rebuild their lives.

In host nations, compassion seems to have been replaced by a frantic desire to keep unwanted “illegal” immigrants out. Extending from bizarre floating hotels to suggestions of seeking refuge in other countries such as Rwanda (which itself was a site of genocide a mere thirty years ago), the migrants find themselves in a no-man’s land, a liminal place where they are neither here nor there.

Additionally, it is little understood that non-human animals are also driven from their usual habitats by the destruction and degradation of their home environments. Faced with unbearable conditions, the choice for animals is drastically reduced – fleeing drought, wildfire and starvation. Thus, the figures in Where are we going? are a mixture of human, animal and in-between beings, suggesting there is little difference in their lived experiences.

The overwhelming mood of the exhibition implies that we – humans, animals, migrants, indigenous – are all in this together. Cruise nudges us to examine our humanity and relationship with the world through the gentle use of comedic pathos.    

EVERARD READ - 20 Huguenot Road
Franschhoek, 7690
South Africa
+27 21 876 2446 l fgallery@everard.co.za

Opening hours:
Monday – Sunday 09:30 - 17:00
Please contact us to make an appointment outside of these hours.