Some artists draw or paint beauty. Some confront brutality in reality. Athenkosi Kwinana does both, often at the same time.
Born in the Eastern Cape and now based in Johannesburg, Athenkosi’s work emerges from a deeply personal yet politically charged terrain — the daily experience of living with Albinism in South Africa.
Lauren Bickerdike’s work doesn’t shout. It reverberates.
Based in Limerick, Ireland, Lauren is a multimedia artist working across photography, sound, and installation. Her work explores how environments — social, political, ecological — leave echoes in the human body.
“I’m interested in the residue. What remains. The sounds that linger after a place has been left.”
She does not chase spectacle. She listens to what’s been left unsaid.
“Sometimes the most radical thing we can do is pause. Pay attention. Let the body speak first.”
During the Safe Spaces residency, Alicia’s presence has been quiet but unmistakable — a kind of gravitational field.
A Salon Dinner
Hosted at The ADMIRALS RESIDENCE
In honour of our resident artists: Alicia Blam • Lauren Bickerdike • Athenkosi Kwinana
Here, three artists — from Spain, Ireland, and South Africa — have been listening deeply.
To each other. To this place. To those who feel Muizenberg as home.
Safe Spaces – A Closing Exhibition at The ADMIRALS RESIDENCE
in collaboration with artists: Alicia Blam • Lauren Bickerdike • Athenkosi Kwinana
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Over the past month, our residency has held many things: the hum of shared silence, the laughter of new connections, the delicate work of creating across difference. Through slow conversation and deep listening, we have gathered stories from the Muizenberg community — not to capture them, but to let them shape something living.
What holds a society together? Beyond buildings and borders, it is the structures of thought, exchange, and shared purpose that define how we connect. The Admirals Residence invites you to an evening of intellectual exchange, artistic reflection, and shared inquiry into the frameworks that underpin our interactions.
Join us for a salon where open-minded individuals from diverse disciplines will explore the importance of ownership in intellectual property, the values that drive socio-economic interactions, and the balance between infinite rule sets within finite processes. Experience different laws of culture and interaction that teach us interconnectedness.
Date: 18.02.2025 Venue: The Admirals Residence, Muizenberg
At the forthcoming exhibition at the ADMIRALS RESIDENCE, a dialogue unfolds, inviting us to explore two perspectives on the contemporary figure. This setting is not merely a display of art but an inspiring conversation between two artists whose works resonate with insights into our shared human experience.
All art enthusiasts and artists interested to experience an afternoon of art at our exhibition are invited. The opening will be on July 9th from 13:00 to 17:00. Meet the current artists, chat with them about their latest work and how they have created them during their residence here in Muizenberg. Enjoy the show or find out if the residency program is also for you.
The cultural exchange event of the first Thursday has been successfully launched throughout Cape Town in 2012 and was intended to be centred around art galleries, retail stores, restaurants and bars. We want to combine this approach with added value to the community of visual artists around the cape peninsula. We are opening opportunity for collaborating by finding inspiration together whilst working in exchange with a life model.
Lena Hugo seeks to create art exploring the concept of immersing and emerging within the contemporary figure and environment. Throughout her stay she will be reacting to the Displacement title of our prior residency exhibition title. Her personal work involves the depiction of individuals going through physical or emotional displacement, and how it affects their identity and sense of belonging. With her arrival on the 24th of June until her departure on the 15th of August we invite you to follow her work process in form of private studio visits, several events and her final exhibition.
