THE PROVENANCE

It is rare to peer behind the creative veil and it into the very heart
of the design practice. To begin to weave together the varying
threads of a designer's tapestry - both literal and figurative - and
reveal their process, brings up queries of the studio, the story -
the materiality, inspiration and how could this even begin to be
distilled and conveyed to a community? Such an interrogation
is a task so profoundly archival, while being a contemporary
elevation of the exhibition format as wholly and holistically suited

to sartorial expression in fashion design.

Provenance is precisely this; a warm, heartfelt welcome by
Lukhanyo Mdingi into the intimate nexus upon which his

eponymous label has been built since 2015.

This series tells the story of the label's expedition; and delves
deep into the source material of the textura

THE HANDS

In conceptualising The Provenance, it became unequivocally clear
that there is only one place we could begin - The absolute bedrock
upon which Lukhanyo Mdingi has been built is among the Hands;
the human beings who, through the sharing of their time, talent and
trust, has informed the label's intense dedication to harnessing the

consciousness of human ingenuity.

Clothing is a medium, and the brand itself is a vehicle; and
for Lukhanyo Mdingi, understanding the depth of this truth
has allowed the label to manifest as a collective, intrinsically
community-informed vessel in which to contain its essence. This
essence, referred to as the label's cosmology, is a social, cultural
and artistic revelation that continues to etch its story through
each collection; and each collection is the final emblem of a vision
shared and worked on together with t

THE VISUALS

Imagery has always played a profound part in the expansion of
the label's intent, and since its inception, the LM label has been a
depiction of the collaborative energy so intrinsic to South African
design in the last decade. With fellow emerging (now fully-fledged)
creatives such as photographers and videographers lending their
skillsets, the label's archive of images, films, sounds and series
seek to enhance the precise environment and energy within which
the collections exist, furthering the notion of the Lukhanyo
Mdingi cosmology; the visuals convey the cohesion, curiosity and

consideration of the label's story.

Each visual element become building blocks that comprise
the entirety of the essence. The label is a study on the critical
component of visual language within a brand; its essential function
is to say what words cannot, through