Buhlebezwe Siwani Opens Consonni Radziszewski's Milan Space

May 13. Consonni Radziszewski opened its Milan space with uYana umhlaba, Buhlebezwe Siwani's first solo exhibition in Italy. The show centers on new work extending the Inkanyamba series, which Siwani began in 2020.

Inkanyamba refers to a Zulu water serpent, a figure Siwani has used to explore ritual, mythology, and the body's relationship to ancestral knowledge. The original series appeared in group contexts. This Milan presentation is the first time the research anchors a solo institutional show outside South Africa.

Consonni Radziszewski runs spaces in Warsaw and now Milan. The Milan opening marks the gallery's first exhibition in the city. Choosing Siwani for the inaugural show signals a curatorial bet on work rooted in non-Western cosmologies rather than the usual Milan-season roster.

The gallery has not released installation views yet. Press materials describe the new body of work as continuing the formal language of the 2020 series but expanding its scale and materiality. Specifics on medium and count are pending.

Siwani's practice typically involves performance, video, and sculptural installation. The Inkanyamba works have previously incorporated fabric, beadwork, and found objects arranged as altars or ritual sites. Whether the Milan pieces hold to that format or shift register is unclear from the available text.

The show's title, uYana umhlaba, translates roughly to "it refuses the earth" or "it denies the ground." A statement on liminality, possibly. Or on the serpent's nature as a creature that moves between water and land, myth and material.

Consonni Radziszewski's Milan debut could have been safer. A known name, a tested body of work, a format legible to the fair-season crowd. Instead: a South African artist working in ritual registers, in a city where contemporary African art still reads as niche programming. The stance is patient. The gallery is betting Milan collectors will wait three days instead of writing this off in five minutes.