|
Indepth Arts News:
"Being Here: A Group Exhibition Celebrating Place and Belonging"
2005-07-13 until 2005-07-31
KwaZulu Natal Society of Arts (KZNSA)
Durban, ,
ZA South Africa
Curated by Camilla Copley, Storm Janse van Rensburg and assisted by Dineo Bopape, "Being Here" invites reflections on lived experiences. What does it mean to live and work at this point in time in this place? What is our current zeitgeist, for a province and place that in the past have been racked by political violence and unrest? What are the new identities that are starting to emerge as we live our democracy? What is our sense of place, and what is the spirit of this place that we call home?
These are questions that have been recurring themes in contemporary work of the past ten years. Artists have reflected on and imaged Durban for many years though, particularly in early colonial times. But what have replaced those colonial images of the past as the current and correct portrait of our city and our province? And how are these new visions filtered by a current political and social context that require image makers (and artists) to comply to new ideological demands?
The exhibition will include a reproduction of "Durban Bay from Claremont", a famous painting by Cathcart William Methven (1849-1925), one of the founder members of the organisation, as a starting point. The work will also be exhibited alongside other works within the show as an extreme reference point to our colonial legacy.
The exhibition will consist of newly commissioned and existing works from artists that are currently living in KwaZulu Natal. Works will be in all media. Works on exhibition will take into account a variety of readings on the theme and include contemporary landscapes and depictions of physical landscapes, reflections on current social issues (the prevalence of HIV/AIDS / poverty for example), issues pertaining to the politicization of land, historical and legacy references in contemporary art, personal narratives pertaining to lived experience and musings on expressions of new identities. Artists participating are Chris & Marlene de Beer, Bronwen Vaughn-Evans, Angela Buckland, Welcome Danca, Sibusiso Duma, Lindelani Ngwenya, Mondli Mdanda, Mduduzi Xakaza, Temba Shibase, Ingrid Winterbach, Gabisile Nkosi, Isabella Quattrochi, Siphiwe Zulu, Doung Anwar Jahangeer, Sicelo Ziqubu, Zama Dunywa, V! aughn Sadie, Dean Henning & Rike Sitas, Devan Baumeister and Carin Nolan.
IMAGE
Lindelani Ngwenya
'Baby and Dove of Peace' 2004
From Bathini Abantu at the African Art Centre in Sept 2004
Wire and grass
Related Links:
| | 
|
