Mandy Johnston wants to burn things to bring back traditions

South African artist Mandy Johnston is setting steel wool sculptures ablaze in her latest exhibition, "Gatherer," at the Berman Contemporary All Women Art Gallery in Cape Town. The exhibition uses the dramatic act of burning to explore themes of ritual, transformation, and the transitions that shape human lives.

Johnston explained that steel wool, a seemingly strong man-made material, can be surprisingly fragile and burn. During the exhibition's opening, selected wireframe sculptures were ignited, their steel wool surfaces erupting in sparks before collapsing. These unique, ephemeral performances are documented through videos, and the burnt frames are then offered to art buyers.

The exhibition also features "Earth Meets Ash," a series of black landscape paintings created not with traditional paint, but with the ash collected from the sculpture burns. These works, described as smoky and mineral-rich, evoke images of scarred fields or gathering weather systems, suspended between landscape and memory. Johnston spent three weeks creating the work in situ, inviting the public to participate in the process.

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Steel wool, for me, is like a commentary on the fact that we construct these man-made things that seem so strong and so formalised. Steel is one of the hardest substances on Earth but in another form it’s so fragile and can burn.