SYMPHONY OF DREAMS (FNB JOBURG 2026)
04 - 06 SEPTEMBER 2026
WORKS
gallery LAB #G
Wunika Mukan Gallery is pleased to present Symphony of Dreams, a new body of work by South African artist Themba Sibeko, at the 19th edition of FNB Art Joburg, taking place from 4–6 September 2026 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. Through the visual language of ballet, Sibeko explores the pursuit of dreams and the discipline, vulnerability, uncertainty, and perseverance that accompany the journey towards becoming.
Across the works, dancers appear at different stages of this journey—preparing, waiting, performing, falling, and rising again. Rather than focusing solely on the spectacle of achievement, Sibeko turns towards what often remains unseen: the hours of preparation, disappointments, missed opportunities, moments of doubt, and persistence that precede arrival.
The presentation extends Sibeko’s ongoing interest in human connection, recognition, and belonging. His characteristically obscured facial features resist fixed identities, allowing the figures to become mirrors through which viewers might recognise something of their own aspirations and experiences. Ballet, in this context, becomes more than performance; it offers Sibeko a language for considering the universal experience of carrying a dream and continuing towards it despite an uncertain outcome.
Like a symphony, a dream does not remain on one note. It moves through rises and falls, silence and sound, harmony and dissonance. Symphony of Dreams is ultimately an invitation to recognise ourselves in the dancer.
Themba Sibeko (b. 1994) is a Johannesburg-based artist born and raised in Katlehong, Gauteng, on the East Rand. He studied Analytical Chemistry at the University of Johannesburg, where his exploration of atomic and molecular bonding would later inform his art practice.
Sibeko is intrigued by human connections and their similarities to particles in chemistry. Through acrylic painting and scientific form, he explores the unknown possibilities that emerge when people encounter new scenarios, affinities and territories. The removal of facial features in his work speaks to the human need for recognition, approval and belonging, while allowing viewers to insert themselves into the work.
His practice questions authentic human interactions and seeks to remove stigmatization around how people identify with one another, emphasizing that we are human first before anything.
