Parallel Play v.2
Exhibition 31 October–25 November 2022
Process photograph from the second rendition of the ‘Parallel Play’ studio setup in A4’s Gallery. At the front, a stack of Kyle Morland’s metal sculptures on a table. At the back, Asemahle Ntlonti and their studio assistant working on the gallery floor.
Process: Parallel Play v.2 with Asemahle Ntlonti and Kyle Morland, October 31, 2022–November 25, 2022. Image courtesy of A4 Arts Foundation.
Title Parallel Play v.2 Dates 31 October–25 November 2022 Location Gallery Tagline Asemahle Ntlonti and Kyle Morland pursue their respective studio practices in parallel in A4’s Gallery. Credits

Artists:
Asemahle Ntlonti
Kyle Morland

Roundtable participants:
Jean-Marié Malan
Anelisa Ntlonti
Sean O'Toole
Josh Ginsburg
Sara de Beer
Nkhensani Mkhari
Mitchell Gilbert Messina

Practitioners are invited to measure, mend, test, archive, and make, working in parallel with artist colleagues to create mobile studios in the gallery in between A4’s quarterly exhibitions programme. 

For this second iteration of Parallel Play, artists Asemahle Ntlonti and Kyle Morland work alongside one another. This culminated in a Live Harvest roundtable engagement, from which the following excerpts of conversation emerged:

"Is play detective work or is it about surprise?" – Sean O'Toole

"Sustained practice without knowing where the works will be exhibited or not allows for flexibility towards resolution. Working for the sake of working is its own achievement, not an intended, predicted outcome." – Jean-Marié Malan

"In both Kyle and Asemahle’s practices, there’s a shared engagement with the multiple – with assemblage and collage. There are so many different things happening, and opportunities for things to happen in ways other than what they were initially intended." – Sara de Beer

"I haven’t had the confidence yet to really play with colour. Seeing Asemahle’s work with collage, and the depth that colour gives to flat works, tearing up different colours and seeing what works together. But both of us are working with various loose components, whether its assemblage or collage." – Kyle Morland

"Kyle’s work felt very performative to me. It’s almost as if they embody a body, as though they’re performing. The object itself tells you what is missing and leads you on your way." – Asemahle Ntlonti

"A target is a thing that one is driven to realise in all its precision. Then is the detritus; the tests that generate these beautiful objects along the way." – Josh Ginsburg

"Do you learn more about your work in its making – in the rehearsal – or in its performance, its appearing in the gallery and having people engage with it?" – Nkhensani Mkhari

"For me, the distinction between work and play can be challenging at times. But play is always productive; you can salvage things created in play."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Memory is a thing I work with – memory as a relatable feeling that can be communicated by an artwork to a viewer unfamiliar with its references."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"There is too much pressure to focus on only a single work. I work across multiple canvases, shifting as I need, responding to questions when the answers arrive."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Art is about being free; you can always change your mind. But because it comes from you, there is a shared language, a consistency, regardless of what you are doing, across your work."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"I revisit my pile of discarded things. Visitors to the studio are drawn to it. These things have potential."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"I work a lot with energy – I try as much as I can to find joy in my process, to be humble, to find the level where I can converse with the work. If I am all over the place, distracted, I struggle to tap into that mindset. It’s a different challenge every day. My mind and my body are primary in the process. It’s like a meditation – my mind can’t be too busy. The limitations shift with my body. The work responds differently."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"I begin with an idea, but as I make, new things arrive. The idea changes; I follow new directions."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"I’m looking to capture the patterns of the dung floors, the textures of the clay cladding of huts, the way it cracks, the villages seen from above. An old wall can appear like an abstract painting, revealing different layers of past and present paint." 
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"I research to understand myself, having conversations with people because my history is not vastly written about."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Making art is like psychology, or meditating. Sometimes your mind is too busy to perform, and other times the work comes from this." 
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Every December, I go to the Eastern Cape. That becomes my research. The research is for me to understand myself, and this goes into my work. Because I grew up in the city, I sometimes feel like I don’t know anything. My cousins tell me the names of things in isiXhosa, and these names are new to me, and I’m so curious about this."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"How can I pour my heart into this vessel that can make someone feel a relationship to it? They have not walked in my shoes or had my experience, and yet there is something that we can share."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"The huts, people think these are beautiful, but I consider this as art. What is abstraction for me as a Xhosa person from the Eastern Cape? This is not resolved. I have to challenge myself – this is my research."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"If you go to my mom’s homestead, the wall looks like a topographical painting, mud filling the cracks, pink paint, it’s easy and natural, and that’s the way I want to work, with that naturalness, that ease."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"My family are the ones who I take to my studio for a crit, and they are also my research. I’m making in conversation with them."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Are you playing for the sake of playing, or because you want something out of it? Are you being honest in your playing? It’s probably a bit of both."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"I try as much as I can to enjoy the entire process by humbling myself. If I’m troubled, I need to dig into myself by digging at the things around me. It’s always a question: How the work will respond to me, and how I will respond to the work?"
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"When I’m in the studio, I don’t really have a chance to play because many worries that belong to Asemahle find me there, not me as an artist. Given the time and freedom to be playful and play around is important. I feel like I should play more. I sometimes finish a work in the gallery, if I have a show. I find a different response in that new environment that offers a chance to be playful; a moment to respond to that I didn’t have in the studio."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Kyle’s objects felt very performative to me. It’s almost as if they embody a body, as though they’re performing. The object itself tells you what is missing and leads you on your way."
– Asemahle Ntlonti

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"That’s a decision to avoid making an independent decision. It’s relying on conventions to make the decision for you."
_– _Jean-Marié Malan

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Documenting your practice gives you source material to draw from at the next approach."
_– _Jean-Marié Malan

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"The work is complete when all the steps are completed, because it’s quite methodical. The studio is a place you can approach each day without feeling overwhelmed because there are lists, there is a blueprint of how to work."
_– _Jean-Marié Malan

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Asemahle’s work appears as archaeological layers emerging from the earth. The paint is embedded in the substrate, unlike the surface-heavy focus of many painting practices."
_– _Jean-Marié Malan

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Sustained practice without knowing whether the works will be exhibited or not allows for flexibility towards resolution. Working for the sake of working is its own achievement, not an intended, predicted outcome."
_– _Jean-Marié Malan

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Kyle’s body is rigorously involved in his making, but the final form is so polished that it’s difficult to see. A work appears wholly formed, as if from the heavens, but the effort of its making is sustained."
_– _Jean-Marié Malan

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"When we started this instance of Parallel Play, it wasn’t done on the basis that there would be overlaps between Kyle and Asemahle’s practices, but many interesting and unexpected touch points have arisen."
– Josh Ginsburg

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"In Asemahle’s work, there are senses of both excavation and topological compositions. Both are part of the same discipline; the ground seen from different orientations."
– Josh Ginsburg

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"The majority of what the work really entails is hidden. Like an iceberg, it lies beneath the surface and only a fraction appears. Is there frustration with how the work is shared?"
– Josh Ginsburg

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"A target is a thing that one is driven to realise in all its precision. Then there is the detritus; the tests that generate these beautiful objects along the way."
– Josh Ginsburg

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"I can describe my process through the image archive that I keep. That, instead of writing about it – the pictures express it."
– Kyle Morland

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"You can no longer mediate people’s reactions to your artworks once the works leave your studio." 
– Kyle Morland

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"I haven’t had the confidence yet to play with colour. Seeing Asemahle work with collage, and her layering of colour blocks, is inspiring. Both of us are working with various loose components to make up a composition. In my work, assemblies are made when combining forms; in Asemahle’s work, this happens through two-dimensional collages of colour."
– Kyle Morland

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"I don’t engage in intentional research nowadays; rather, I pursue conversations with studio peers and other practitioners. I understand my work within a lineage but I no longer feel preoccupied with it."
– Kyle Morland

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Trying and trying again. Trial and error. Learning."
– Kyle Morland

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Steel profiles have signifying colours in stockyards. They are coded depending on thickness. The colours are a part of the material’s industrial life." 
– Kyle Morland

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"I feel like a plant in a container; my work responds to the space in which it’s made, the physical container of the studio and my environment."
– Kyle Morland

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Once you’ve preserved a form, it’s finished. I follow a series of steps towards this resolution. From preparing the material to the final coating... It’s a given logic."
– Kyle Morland

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"The studio is like a fishbowl, and the fish can develop depending on the size of the space. My current studio has a truck loading door, before that; double doors, and before that a single door. What are the limits to the size of things that can be produced and leave the studio unassembled?"
– Kyle Morland

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Studio practice has parameters and boundaries." 
– Mitchell Gilbert Messina

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Both Asemahle and Kyle’s practices involve making and moving things until they settle."
– Mitchell Gilbert Messina

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"When does the work rest? When do you stop shifting? When do you feel a work is finished?"
– Mitchell Gilbert Messina

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Artists are part-time artists and part-time admin people."
– Mitchell Gilbert Messina

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"What sound would your artwork make?"
– Mitchell Gilbert Messina

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"How does the looking look? What is the research behind the practice?"
– Mitchell Gilbert Messina

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Do you learn more about your work in its making – in the rehearsal – or in its performance, its appearing in the gallery and having people engage with it?"
– Nkhensani Mkhari

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Thinking of two verbs: work and play. Work is directional, but play can accommodate failure. There is experiment in the first but also a formality. Perhaps you accept failure in play; you are released from the idea of a final work."
– Sean O'Toole

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"Is play detective work or is it about surprise?"
– Sean O'Toole

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

"So much of being an artist is about envy."
– Sean O'Toole

Marking the end of Parallel Play v.2, Kyle Morland and Asemahle Ntlonti join invited practitioners in conversation to reflect on the artists' time in A4's Gallery and their expanded practices.

Process photograph from the 2nd rendition of ‘Parallel Play’ in A4’s Gallery. Asemahle Nltonti’s studio assistant applies paint onto brown paper on the gallery floor.
Process: Parallel Play v.2 with Asemahle Ntlonti and Kyle Morland, October 31, 2022–November 25, 2022. Image courtesy of A4 Arts Foundation.
Installation photograph from the 2018 rendition of ‘Parallel Play’ in A4’s Gallery that shows three aluminium shelves with aluminium sculptural forms.
Artwork: Kyle Morland, Library of Assemblies (2022). Aluminium. Each shelf 240 x 300 cm. Courtesy of the artist and blank projects.
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