South African National Gallery

bonani 3rd quarter 1997

Current Exhibitions & Special Events Natale Labia Museum Friends of the National Gallery

The restructuring process of national collections has begun, the first phase being conducted by staff (excluding senior management) working in the future flagships in Cape Town and Gauteng. Twelve technical working groups are researching and reporting on resources and approaches in the affected museums and putting their vision on the table. The reports will be studied, considered and turned into policy by a structure which involves the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Boards of Trustees, Directors and provincial authorities. A great deal of time, commitment and energy are demanded from participating staff and others in the institutions, but we know that this is a unique opportunity for us to guide, inform and shape our future. SANG staff members involved are: Faeza Allie, Joey Andersen, Len Armstrong, Emma Bedford, Peter Dennis, Heidi Erdmann, Kathy Grundlingh, Moegshien Jabaar, Emile Maurice, Ighsaan Noordien, Hayden Proud, Kim Siebert, Nicolaas Vergunst, Jon Weinberg and Angela Zehnder. Emile Maurice was appointed by the Department as convener of the Cape Town flagship, and Jo-Anne Duggan (who was on the staff until the end of 1995) of the Gauteng flagship. We are immensely proud of the high profile the SANG has in this process.

On national Human Rights Day, 21 March, a public forum, hosted by the Griqua National Conference in alliance with the East Griqualand Pioneers, the Nama Representative Council and the Rehoboth Baster Government was held at the SANG. Nearly 1000 people arrived to discuss the return for burial of Saartje Baartman, whose remains are in the Musée de l'Homme (Museum of Mankind) in Paris. Unfortunately the Minister and Deputy-Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology had prior engagements, and no representative of the French Government responded to the invitation.

Weer eens het die parkeerterrein en die Annekssaal weergalm met koorsang, gebede en toesprake wat die inheemse tale van suider-Afrika ingesluit het. Dit was duidelik dat die repatriasieproses nie langer agter die geslote deure van die twee betrokke regerings kan plaasvind nie, en dat die verwagtinge, hartsversugting en eise van die mense gehoorsaam sal moet word. Die versoek aan die Franse en Suid-Afrikaanse Regerings dat Saartje Baartman na die bodem van haar geboorte teruggebring en begrawe word, word deur die Suider-Afrikaanse Museumverenig-ing gesteun. Die voorstel dat haar laaste rusplek op Robben Eiland moet wees is eenparig afgekeur, dit is breedvoerig bespreek, maar gaan nog veel aandag en debat verg. Vir die SANK was dié forum nog 'n mylpaal in die verwesenliking van ons visie om ons ruimtes en ons museum in 'n diepgaande wyse oop te stel, te omskep en deel te maak van die samelewing. Op 21 Maart is 'n blywende vennootskap met die betrokke Khoisan-groepe geskep, en ek is diep dankbaar vir die positiewe samewerking en wedersydse vertroue wat uit die pyn en misverstand van die tentoonstelling 'Miscast: Negotiating Khoisan history and material culture' ontstaan en gegroei het. Ons waardeer die finansiële steun van die Vriende van die SANK wat gehelp het om mense wat van ver gekom het kos te gee.

A conference entitled 'Khoisan Identities and Cultural Heritage' takes place at the South African Museum from 14 -16 July and is preceded by free open days on the 12th and 13th. The driving force behind this event is Henry Bredekamp of the Institute for Historical Research of the University of the Western Cape. The more public attention is focussed on the plight and aspirations of Khoisan descendants, the better, for the displacement from traditional lands continues. According to Nigel Crawhall, a sociolinguist heading the Southern African San Institute (Sasi), land occupied by the Kxoe people was seized by Namibian authorities as recently as April 1997. 'Land-related civil rights abuses against the /Gwi, //Ana and !Xoo in Botswana and Zimbabwe have endangered these commu-nities and their languages' (Mail & Guardian, 30 May 1997, p 22).

The occasion for people demanding the repatriation of the remains of Saartje Baartman and the French and South African governments to meet will present itself on the morning of 12 July when the exhibition of African sculpture from the Pierre Guerre Collection opens at the SANG. We are grateful to the Association Française d'Action Artistique (AFAA) and the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS), for making it possible for South Africans to experience, for the first time, a major show of African art from France. I believe that this magnificent celebration of the aesthetic production of our continent provides impetus to the SANG's participation in the Africanist debate, and that it inspires us to rethink our identity as Africans, as well as our place on and relationship to Africa.

Marilyn Martin