SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL GALLERY
SUID-AFRIKAANSE NASIONALE KUNSMUSEUM
IGALARI YOBUZWE YOMZANTSI AFRIKA
An Exhibition of Works from the Permanent Collection
District Six, Were We Lived, Fatima February (with assistance from Yasmina February and Fayrouz Mathews), 1992
(Fabric and pebbles
163 x 127 cm (irregular))
Fatima February
"In my work, I express my love for District Six, and the memories that will always be" - Fatima February, 1995.
Born: 1960, District Six, Cape Town.
Began making art only in 1993 when she submitted a work for an exhibition designed to encourage community involvement and participation in the activities of the South African National Gallery, Cape Town. Works with fabric and makes remembrance pieces mainly concerned with the shared memory of District Six, which was zoned for destruction under the Group Areas Act in 1966. Work is decorative, celebratory and rejoices in religious ritual. As such, it opposes the official justification for the destruction of District Six - that it was nothing but a slum.
Training:
1994: Art Skills For Child Education, a part-time course run by
the Community Arts Project, Cape Town.
1994: The Integrated Arts, a part-time course on teaching of the
arts, School of Education, University of Cape Town.
1995: Elements of Art, a course for artists without much formal
art education, Community Arts Project, Cape Town.
Profile:
Left school at the age of 17 after completing Standard 8. Married soon after and
is the mother of two children. Began working at the South African National
Gallery in 1981 as a General Assistant. When her creative skills were recognized
several years later, she was promoted to Education Assistant. Also designs
posters, pamphlets, etc., for the institution.
Group Exhibitions:
1992: South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Standard Bank Art
Gallery, Johannesburg; Standard Bank National Festival of
the Arts, Grahamstown (Picturing Our World).
1993: Irma Stern Museum, Rosebank, Cape.
1994: South African National Gallery, Cape Town (Muslim Art from
the Western Cape).
Collections:
South African National Gallery, Cape Town.
