'Of art, war and freedom' a conversation with Athi Patra Ruga

On the eve of the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, we caught up with the artist Athi Patra Ruga. Ruga's practice is a medium agnostic exploration of the Rainbow Nation myth, an interrogation of the democratic project's unity fantasies and an empahtic rebuke of the "post-apartheid utopia". In the last few months, his work has been exhibited in Chicago and Zurich and he recently collaborated with the Zetz MOCAA for their annual gala (his work also forms part of the museum's current showcase of its permanent collection titled SALA). We spoke about collecting, mentorship, mastery, decamping from Metrpoli and the artist's lived experience in a time of war.