Southern Guild opened a permanent gallery in New York’s Tribeca district on Friday, marking a significant expansion for the Cape Town-based gallery and a notable moment for the international visibility of contemporary African art.
The gallery, at 75 Leonard Street in the historic district of Tribeca, brings together two distinct South African voices in its opening exhibitions: painter Mmangaliso Nzuza’s Ballad of the Peacock and conceptual artist Usha Seejarim’s Used, both running until May 17.
Owner and co-founder Trevyn McGowan describes the choice of space as instinctive as much as strategic. “We were very intentional about the space we chose in Tribeca,” she told the Sunday Times. “It’s a 371m² gallery with 5m-high pressed tin ceilings, set in a historic cast-iron building defined by exquisite Corinthian columns. There’s a quiet strength to the architecture — the scale, the light, the history of the building — that really allows the work to breathe.”
That sense of restraint and depth mirrors Southern Guild’s broader approach. Its now-closed Los Angeles gallery, launched in 2024, served as a testing ground and foundation for understanding American audiences. New York, however, offers a different tempo.
“The move to New York isn’t about leaving that behind — it’s about building on it,” McGowan says. “New York offers a different sort of immediacy and access, particularly in institutions, curators, and the density of the art world. At this stage in our journey, it felt like the natural next step.”
Seejarim’s Used reflects on labour through the language of materials. “Used is a body of work that reflects on cycles of care and depletion, explored through materials and the body,” she says. “The title speaks to states of being that are often overlooked, like things that have been worn down or quietly relied upon.”
Her practice draws on domestic objects already marked by use. “I’m interested in how these materials hold memory, not necessarily in a nostalgic sense but as evidence of labour and repetition,” says the Bethal-born artist. “My first visit to New York was in 2005 when I received the Ampersand Fellowship, a two-month residency in Tribeca awarded to South African visual artists, curators and arts writers.
“Since then, I’ve visited briefly on two separate trips in the past three years. My hope is that the New York audience engages with the work beyond geographic framing and it resonates on a human level where there may be familiarity and discomfort and the nuanced space between.”
Southern Guild’s expansion comes amid sustained global demand for African art. “We’ve seen very strong interest, from large-scale sculptures to more intimate pieces, with works ranging from $10,000 (R164,095) to more than $200,000 (R3.3m) at recent international fairs,” adds McGowan.
Yet the Johannesburg-born art gallery co-founder is measured about the moment. “The art market will always move in cycles, but what we’re seeing now is a shift towards more informed and deliberate acquisitions and a growing emphasis on cultural and material significance, rather than short-term trends.”
Seejarim adds: “This exhibition marks a geographic and conceptual moment of transition. It’s an opportunity to test how the work holds in this new environment and to allow that encounter to shape what comes next.”
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