Director's Message
sang@gem.co.za
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For weeks I was thinking about how to start this message, because we did not know whether this issue of bonani would see the light of day or not. Readers will remember that we were not able to budget for bonani this year, and that the previous issue was sponsored by the Friends of the Gallery; we were to have three months in which to find the necessary funding. Being optimists committed to our publication, we had gone ahead with the preparation; now it was time to go to print, and there were many possible sources which had been identified and pursued by us, with the able and active assistance of Marianne Hildebrandt and Sheryl Ozinsky, but nothing concrete had emerged. The idea of approaching a printer to produce the current issue as a special donation to the SANG was mooted by Marianne. For six years we have had an excellent working arrangement with Tricolor Press - we took SANG business there and in return all our black-and-white invitations were printed free of charge. I offered to approach Albert Berman, and I am delighted to report that he immediately agreed. Ben Rabinowitz had offered assistance and is footing the billl generously. I would like to take this opportunity of expressing our heartfelt thanks to everyone who is working so hard, to the FONG, Tricolor Press and Ben Rabinowitz. Not only have we had a reprieve, we are well on the way to obtaining sponsorship for future issues and to designing a new-look bonani for 1997.
As reported in the previous bonani, the SANG has a new Board of Trustees, and at our meeting on 28 August new office bearers were elected. It gives me great pleasure to announce that Karin Skawran has been re-elected as Chairperson, with Kiren Thathiah as Vice-Chairperson. Both have served on the Board for two terms of three years, and Karin Skawran has fulfilled her task as Chairperson for the past three years with great wisdom, insight and dedication. Kiren Thathiah's support for the institution, and his sterling contribution in the field of human resources and as Chairperson of the Exhibitions Committee, make him an excellent candidate for his position. Other members of the SANG Executive Committee are Josie Frater, Vince Kolbe and Jane Taylor. We are now more than ever poised and ready to function fully as the art museum for the nation.
The responsibilities attached to this role were brought home forcefully with the exhibition Miscast: Negotiating Khoisan History and Material Culture, curated by Pippa Skotnes. On the one hand it gave great impetus to the reputation of the SANG as an institution of international influence and significance, on the other hand it offended and alienated many South Africans. Taking responses to and issues and concerns raised by the exhibition as points of departure, we organised a public discussion forum - Negotiating the Way Forward - in the Annexe Hall on 7 September. We invited the public to engage with us and to assist us in mapping the way forward, and it provided me with an opportunity of apologising to those individuals and groups in the community who were hurt and angered by Miscast. The meeting was chaired by Crain Soudien with panelists Mr Paulus de Wet (representing the Nama of the Richtersveld on the Namibian border), Martin Engelbrecht (Spokesperson for the Khoisan Representative Council), Lavona George (member of the SANG RDP Forum) and Mansell Upham (mandated legal representative of the Griqua National Conference). I am enormously grateful to Crain Soudien (who chaired our two public RDP meetings last year) for steering us wisely and sensitively through the afternoon, to the panelists, to each one of the 184 people (many of whom were young) who arrived to participate, and to the members of staff and the Board who attended.
Alhoewel die tentoonstelling en die werk wat by die SANK gedoen word weer eens onder die loep geneem is, het die bespreking veral gegaan om die historiese en wetlike regte van die inheemse mense van ons land, om menseregte en die afsydigheid van die Regering wat die Khoisan-afstammelinge betref. Dit is duidelik dat ons by die SANK ons op terreine begewe wat die tradisionele perke van 'n kunsmuseum ver oorskry, dat daar 'n ruimte geskep is waar mense bewus gemaak word van kwessies wat almal in Suid-Afrika raak, en waar hulle hul mening kan lug. Deelnemers het dit duidelik laat blyk dat visuele kultuur nie afgesonder kan word van die samelewing nie en dat elkeen die reg het om self sy of haar identiteit te kies en te definieer.
The space at the SANG is in the process of being opened and transformed in a manner which is profound and far-reaching. A number of proposals about mapping the way forward were tabled, we heard new voices and identified new prospective friends and partners. As Crain Soudien suggested, the time has come for us to rewrite the story of our lives through the SANG. As with the forum organised on 14 April, the day after Miscast opened, the afternoon was brought to a beautiful and inspiring close with the singing of the Choir of the Griqua National Conference.
Marilyn Martin
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