In a city where people are constantly rebuilding, reinventing and finding ways to belong, even the things we throw away can tell a story. For Johannesburg-based artist Vivien Kohler, discarded packaging, forgotten objects and fragments of everyday life become something far more meaningful: reflections of identity, memory and the complicated idea of home.

Through a practice rooted in assemblage, sculpture and painting, Kohler challenges us to look beyond an object’s original purpose. His work, currently receiving the spotlight at Gallery MOMO, explores how personal histories and urban environments shape who we become.

It is an artistic conversation that feels particularly relevant in a South African society still navigating questions of displacement, transformation and belonging.

Finding Meaning in What We Leave Behind

Kohler’s approach begins with materials that have already lived another life. Packaging, discarded objects and fragments of everyday urban existence are collected, reconstructed and incorporated into layered compositions.

Rather than simply giving unwanted materials a second life, he uses their previous existence as part of the artwork’s meaning.

There is something deeply familiar about this process. Johannesburg is a city of constant movement, where people arrive carrying different histories, ambitions and expectations. Its streets reflect both opportunity and inequality, while its communities continuously negotiate what it means to call somewhere home.

Kohler translates these contradictions into visual experiences. Human figures appear alongside fragments of packaging and reclaimed materials, creating compositions that explore the relationship between the individual and the environment.

His work doesn’t offer straightforward answers. Instead, it invites viewers to sit with the tension between what has been lost, what remains and what can still be rebuilt.

Johannesburg as a Canvas for Identity

Born in Cape Town and now based in Johannesburg, Kohler’s artistic perspective has been shaped by the contrasting realities of South African urban life.

He describes Johannesburg as a place where wealth and poverty, hope and hardship, history and the present exist side by side.

That complexity is central to his creative language.

His concept, A Place Called Home, explores belonging as something continually negotiated rather than something guaranteed by geography. Home becomes a collection of experiences, relationships, memories and histories that people carry with them.

For a generation navigating urban migration, changing neighbourhoods and the pressure to build a future, this idea carries particular weight.

Kohler’s work suggests that identity is rarely a finished product. Like his reconstructed materials, it is assembled over time, shaped by circumstances and constantly evolving.

From the FNB Art Fair to a New Creative Chapter

His recent presentation at the FNB Johannesburg Art Fair has further informed a new body of work currently in development.

The direction continues his exploration of reconstruction, memory and belonging, extending questions that have remained central to his practice.

Kohler’s artistic journey includes a National Diploma in Fine Art from the Ruth Prowse School of Art and Design, which he completed in 2000.

His exhibition history includes presentations at Gallery MOMO, Sulger-Buel Lovell in London, Ilse Schermers Art Gallery and AVA Gallery. He also received the Thami Mnyele Sculpture Award in 2017.

His work features in several significant collections, including the Nando’s Collection, Hollard Collection, UNISA Art Gallery Collection and Fondation Gandur pour l’Art Contemporary Art Collection in Switzerland.

Why the Overlooked Deserves Our Attention

What makes Kohler’s practice compelling is its ability to find significance in things that everyday life encourages us to ignore.

A discarded package, a damaged surface or an object separated from its original purpose can become a starting point for understanding something much bigger.

In a country where conversations about identity, inequality and belonging remain deeply relevant, his work offers an opportunity to reconsider how personal and collective histories are constructed.

Through its spotlight on Kohler, Gallery MOMO continues its engagement with artists examining the material and social realities of contemporary South African life.

Represented by Gallery MOMO in Parktown, Johannesburg, Kohler reminds us that sometimes the most meaningful stories aren’t found in what we preserve perfectly, but in what we choose to rebuild.

And perhaps that is where belonging begins: not with having everything figured out, but with learning to make meaning from everything life leaves behind.