BREATHING SPACES: ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITS OF DURBAN’S INDUSTRIAL SOUTH
16 JANUARY - 1 MARCH 2009

Breathing Spaces: Environmental Portraits of Durban’s Industrial South is a photographic exploration of three Durban neighbourhoods, photographed by Jenny Gordon, with research by Marijke du Toit. Gordon’s photographs are juxtaposed with decades-old studio and other family photographs drawn from the personal collections of people living in the South Durban neighbourhoods.

Durban’s urban geography reflects race and class inequities that persist beyond apartheid. Wentworth, Merebank and Lamontville (formerly categorised as ‘coloured’, ‘Indian’ and ‘African’ respectively) are located in the immediate vicinity of refineries and other industry. The area has been the centre of much controversy and activism about the levels of industrial pollution experienced by residents. The exhibition is an inquiry into what it means to live in an environment still strongly structured by the geographies of apartheid city planning, by poverty and industrial pollution.

The exhibition will be complemented by an educational programme in the form of guided tours for local schools.

Enquiries: Esther Esmyol, tel. 021 464 1262 or email eesmyol@iziko.org.za.

THEN AND NOW - MOP4
2 - 31 OCTOBER 2008

In the Iziko Good Hope Gallery, the exhibition Then and Now, curated by Paul Weinberg, presents the work of eight prominent documentary photographers working in two different periods of South African history – before and after South Africa’s transition to democracy. Selections from the work of Paul Weinberg, David Goldblatt, George Hallett, Eric Miller, Cedric Nunn, Guy Tillim, Graeme Williams and Gisèle Wulfsohn, most of whom were members of the Afrapix collective, are on show. Then and Now is a key exhibition in the Cape Town Month of Photography 2008 (MoP4) programme.

Visitors can find MoP4 exhibitions and events that work within the festival theme, ‘Emergence and Emergency’, in other venues in the Castle: Melinda Stuurman’s Letecia, a personal insight into a friend’s habits and own community’s relationship with ‘tik’;
and The Crest, a new media work on dystopia set in the Crest Hotel in Johannesburg, by Richard Mark Dobson. An exhibition at the Allemans Barracks presents bodies of work by twelve young photographers: Melinda Stuurman, Andrew McIlleron, Damien Schumann, Buyaphi Mdledle, Husain and Hassan Essop, Jess Meyer, Richard Mark Dobson, Zandile Tisane, Raquel de Castro Maia and Pauline van der Wilt. Photography which engages the medium beyond documentary limitations is demonstrated in an exhibition showcasing work by Roger Ballen, Abrie Fourie, Dale Yudelman, Jacques Coetzer, Nomusa Makhubu and Lien Botha.

Enquiries: Jenny Altschuler, Cell 082 935 5522, or email jnrch@iafrica.com.

TIMBUKTU: SCRIPT & SCHOLARSHIP
8 AUGUST - 3 SEPTEMBER
Iziko Granary

This exhibition of forty ancient manuscripts from the Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research (IHERI-AB) in Timbuktu, Mali, presents the manuscript collections of Timbuktu as cultural treasures of Africa, and creates awareness of the centuries-long history of the written word in sub- Saharan Africa.

From the 1100s onwards, Timbuktu was a centre of west African commerce and Islamic scholarship, and was associated with the production of manuscripts in Arabic script. The beautiful calligraphy, illuminations and leather bindings of many manuscripts reflect the high value placed on scholarship. The manuscripts on display cover astronomy, medicine, mathematics, science, poetry, religion, commerce, law and social relationships. The exhibition includes displays of artefacts and clothing from Timbuktu and the Sahel region.

The exhibition in South Africa is linked to a larger South Africa-Mali government partnership and a cultural project that involves the conservation of the manuscripts and the training of Malian staff by the National Archives of South Africa, as well as the construction of a new library building to house the collection of IHERI-AB in Timbuktu.

Presented in partnership with the Department of Arts and Culture, the exhibition will travel to major centres throughout South Africa.

Enquiries: Lalou Meltzer at Tel. 021 464 1263; Lindsay Hooper, Tel. 021 481 3835; Esther Esmyol, Tel. 021 464 1262; Gerald Klinghardt, Tel. 021 481 3836.

WOVEN INTO LIFE
UNTIL OCTOBER
Grain Cellar

This exhibition reveals the artistry of southern African baskets and pays tribute to basket-makers, past and present, to their deep environmental knowledge and to the ways of life that give basketry meaning. Indigenous basketry in southern Africa represents a dynamic interweaving of culture, environment and technology. It is both art and craft, combining technical skill, knowledge of materials and creativity to produce forms that are practical and beautiful.

The baskets on display, covering a wide range of techniques, uses and regional areas of origin, collectively reflect the knowledge and skill of their makers, as well as the beauty to be found in everyday things.

Enquiries: Lindsay Hooper, Tel. 021 481 3835 or email lhooper@iziko.org.za.

MAKING WAVES - A SELECTION FROM THE SABC ART COLLECTION
6 SEPTEMBER - 28 OCTOBER 2007
Iziko Good Hope Gallery

Note: This press release has been compiled by, and is sent on behalf of, the SABC.

A version of this exhibition, previously shown at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 2004–5 and at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in 2006, is to be shown at the Iziko Good Hope Gallery at the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town from September 6th to October 28th 2007.

The exhibition which will feature approximately 100 works attempts what no South African collection, either public or corporate, has previously done, to provide both an interpretation of the development of South African art through the 20th century and a selection of the best contemporary South African work.

The historical coverage traces the emergence of a local tradition distinguishable from the earlier indigenous and Europe-derived traditions. The latter is illustrated in the work of Kay, Laubser, Preller and Stern among others.

The local tradition is seen as originating in the township painters from Sekoto among others in the 30s to Motjuoadi, Ngatane and Sihlali in the 60s and 70s and also in the very different hybrid products of the Rorke’s Drift and Polly Street art schools in the third quarter of the century.

Of pivotal importance in this process is the unique work produced in the context of political struggle after Sharpville 1960 and Soweto 1976, seminally in the drawings of Dumile and Motau in the 60s, followed in the 70s and the 80s by the work of Kumalo, Legae, Alexander, Ractliffe and others in a range of media.

In addition distributed through the exhibition spaces are some of the finest examples of contemporary South African work in a range of media, including the sculptures of Hlungwane, Mabasa and Schütz, the drawings of Kentridge and Victor, the photographs of Mofokeng and Tillim, the prints of Rakgoethe and Shilakoe, the mixed media of Nhlengethwa and Rose and the paintings of Hodgins and Siopis. The work of several younger artists including Gush, Hlobo, Hugo and Madikida is also featured.

The works are hung in a series of numbered and labelled spaces forming a suite of themes from Struggle and Identity through Street to that which informs much of the exhibition - Predicament. The exhibition includes a number of exceptionally fine recently acquired works, both historical and contemporary. An illustrated catalogue with text and alphabetical list of artists will be available to viewers.

acclaimed in art journals and in the press. Among these, Art South Africa commented: “When it comes to corporate and public art collections, the SABC collection is one of the most potent assemblies of work this country has to offer.” And the Sunday Times wrote: “Making Waves shows a consistent sensitivity to artistic quality and social relevance…In quantity and quality [it] has the critical mass needed to give an illuminating overview of our troubled history,”

The exhibition which has been curated by Koulla Xinisteris, Collection curator, and Graham Neame, Collection art advisor, will be opened on 6th September 2007 at 6.00pm by the Chief Financial Officer of the SABC, Robin Nicholson.

The Iziko Good Hope Gallery at the Castle is open from Monday to Sunday, 10:00 to 16:00.

Safe parking is available in the grounds of the gallery.

For a copy of the catalogue and further information contact:

Koulla Xinisteris
Curator: SABC art collection
Mobile: (082) 574 5568
Email: dxarts@icon.co.za

THANDABANTU: A PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEY THROUGH SOUTHERN AFRICA 1919 TO 1939
MID-FEBRUARY TO END OF JUNE 2007
Good Hope Gallery

The exhibition presents a selection of photographs of indigenous people in southern Africa, taken by Alfred Duggan-Cronin (1874-1954), a leading South African photographer. His work was exhibited in South Africa and overseas, and was published between 1928 and 1954 in an eleven-volume series that is now rarely seen by the public. His collection of several thousand photographs and ethnographic artefacts is housed in the McGregor Museum in Kimberley.

The photographs capture the cultural diversity of the rural population of southern Africa in the first decades of the 20th century, before the far-reaching changes caused by industrialisation, urbanisation and the imposition of Apartheid policy during the mid- and late 20th century. They have been presented following the sequence of the expeditions, with the primary focus being on the developing aesthetics of Duggan-Cronin’s camera work over time.

The exhibition is the result of a partnership between the McGregor Museum, the Duggan-Cronin Foundation and Scan Shop, with sponsorship from De Beers, and includes an extensive educational component to stimulate awareness of the significance of the collection.

Enquiries: Gerald Klinghardt, Tel. 021 481 3836 or email gklinghardt@iziko.org.za

CELEBRATING OUR MUSIC, OUR HERITAGE

This exhibition takes viewers on a visual and musical journey through the heritage of South African music from pre-colonial times through the colonial period to the post-apartheid present.

The focus on indigenous musical instruments recognises the deep roots of musical expression in southern Africa and draws attention to the ways in which African traditions and imported styles have come together to create musical forms that are uniquely South African.

The exhibition pays tribute to the country’s musical icons, celebrates the role of music in the everyday lives of South Africans and shows that music has played a significant part in shaping our diverse South African culture.

Celebrating Our Music, Our Heritage was developed by Iziko Museums of Cape Town, with the curatorial assistance from the Heritage Agency and design by Design Infestation, in collaboration with the National Film, Video and Sound Archives and Moshito. The exhibition was initiated and funded by the Department of Arts and Culture as a key component of the 2006 Heritage Month celebrations.

For more information contact Kholeka Sidinile Tel. 021 4621262

LIVING (+) POSITIVE

A photographic exhibition opens on World Aids Day, 1 December, at the Good Hope Gallery to raise awareness of the right of HIV positive people to anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment and to draw attention to the lives of those on ARV treatment. The exhibition consists of sixty portraits interspersed with photographs of the homes and communities of people on ARV treatment. The photographer, David Chancellor, spent two months in Khayelitsha, Langa and Nyanga, where he worked closely with staff, volunteers and clients of the South African Red Cross Society’s Community Home Based Care programme (CHBC), capturing the positive effects ARVs have had on the lives of people living with HIV. Cape Town artist Kevin Brand helped with the design installations of the exhibition.

Contact Red Cross Volunteer and Project Co-ordinator, Karien Polley: tel. 082 560 5622 or Lalou Meltzer 021 464 1263 or email lmeltzer@iziko.org.za

DEMOCRACY X

A decade after the first democratic elections in South Africa, Iziko Museums of Cape Town presents the exhibition Democracy X. It highlights significant events and turning points in our complex past, charting the long journey to democracy, and marking the freedoms achieved thus far. Democracy X also celebrates our heritage of artistic creativity from its very early beginnings until the present.