Part of ProtoZone19: Ruptures \ Reliances, 23.05.2025-03.08.2025

Kai tus tu (Great rain rain)

Kai tus tu (Great rain rain) is an extension of a system of notation which Bronwyn Katz has been developing through their practice to signify the phonetics of an imagined creole language. The installation is manifested through what Katz identifies as curtains of rain, made of copper coated carbon steel and hemp twine. This wire image of rain is inspired by the sound of rain hitting a metal roof.

Katz is interested in the potential of rain as a cleansing force, a healing force, a blessing. She posits copper as a metaphor for water, this conductor of electricity encourages wound healing.

Through the creation of codes/visual forms realised as sculptures and installation Katz offers an alternative mode of preserving, reading and understanding ritual, language and the earth. Katzʼs work on excavating communal history and the recognition of diverse forms of expression is crucial for the rebuilding of a South African archive and reclaiming what was assumed to be lost or destroyed.

Kai tus tu (Great rain rain) first showed in 2023 at MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique in Paris and was on view at the Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation until January 2025.

Bronwyn Katz’s solo exhibitions include Stone’s Embrace, A Love Spiral Of Erosion And Renewal, Stevenson, Johannesburg (2024); Kaeen-de-haree, Lively sunshine, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York (2023); Tus tsĩ xurub, Rain and drought, MASSIMODECARLO, Paris (2023); I turn myself into a star and visit my loved ones in the sky at White Cube, London (2021); Salvaged Letter, Peres Projects, Berlin (2019); / // ! ǂ, blank projects, Cape Town (2019) and A Silent Line, Lives Here, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2018).

Katz have featured in group exhibitions including Sightlines on Peace, Power and Prestige: Metals Arts in Africa, Bard Graduate Center Gallery, New York (2023); The Milk of Dreams, the 59th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale (2022); Soft Water, Hard Stone, the New Museum Triennial, New York (2021); the Future Generation Art Prize exhibition, PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv (2021); Upkeep: Everyday Strategies of Care, The Arts Club of Chicago (2020); We Aim to Live, Zuzeum Art Centre, Riga (2020); NIRIN, 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020); Là où les eaux se mêlent, 15th Biennale de Lyon (2019) and Material Insanity, Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, Marrakech (2019).

In 2022 Katz was selected as a protégé for the Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative, set to work with El Anatsui over a period of two years. They were shortlisted for the Future Generation Art Prize in 2021 and awarded the First National Bank Art Prize in 2019.

Katz is a founding member of iQhiya, an 11-women artist collective which has performed across

various spaces, including Documenta (in Kassel and Athens), Greatmore Studios, and Iziko South African National Gallery.