The best of Tsonga & Shangaan showpieces

Dungamanzi / Stirring Waters, the first exhibition to comprehensively celebrate and showcase Tsonga and Shangaan art, opens at Iziko South African National Gallery on 13 February and runs until 8 June 2008.

As these artworks form part of South Africa’s finest heritage objects, the exhibition brings an awareness of the richness of creativity, innovation and the high degree of artistic skill in the Limpopo Province and surrounds.

In the past the voices of artists who created traditional artworks were largely absent from museum and gallery displays. With the input of artist Billy Makhubele, who collected many of the treasured pieces – particularly the fine sangoma items – this exhibition and its accompanying catalogue create a ‘living’ archive. In particular it presents the Makhubele family, whose story is one of resilience and survival through the political turbulence of the late nineteenth century and the difficulties of the apartheid era. Their beaded artworks form a permanent record of South African history over the past few decades and capture the joy of liberation after so much suffering.

Dungamanzi/Stirring Waters is supported by the City of Johannesburg, Johannesburg Art Gallery, National Arts Council, Arts & Culture Trust, Wits University Press, Natalie Knight Gallery, Ove Arup, CD Shipping, the Consulate General of Switzerland, Pro-Helvetia Arts Council of Switzerland and Kulula.com.

A full colour catalogue is available from the Gallery Shop.

The Gallery is open daily from 10:00-17:00 excluding Mondays. For exhibition enquiries contact Carol Kaufmann on 021 467 4672 or email ckaufmann@iziko.org.za

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