Coming soon to the Iziko South African National Gallery – 22 February 2025.
For media images and interview requests please contact:
Zikhona Jafta via email on mediaofficer@iziko.org.za
Iziko Museums of South Africa is gearing up to host the first retrospective exhibition of globally acclaimed South African artist, Sue Williamson. Entitled: Sue Williamson: There’s something I must tell you – a retrospective exhibition, curated by Andrew Lamprecht, is set to open at the Iziko South African National Gallery on Saturday, 22 February 2025. This landmark exhibition, filling eight rooms and the Atrium of the ISANG, visually documents her extraordinary journey spanning more than five decades of creativity and impact. More than 100 artworks traversing a wide range of media, from printmaking, drawing, and embroidery to photography, installation and video, will be on display.
The evocative works of Sue Williamson, designated by the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture as one of the nation’s “Living Legends”, has made a major impact on the local and international art world.
As an activist during apartheid, Williamson made posters and T-shirts that critiqued the racist policies of the day. A photograph of her now-famous “Freedom Charter” T-shirt was seen in the files of the military police, a printed postcard made from the Modderdam Postcard series of etchings was banned, and her exhibitions were visited by the security police.
Her 1980’s series of etched and screen-printed portraits, A Few South Africans, is frequently cited as one of the most important bodies of work to emerge from the era of apartheid. It respectfully portrays women comrades and other struggle leaders in a way that pays homage to their contribution in making South Africa free. Postcards made from the series were distributed not only in South Africa, but across the globe.
Williamson presented The Last Supper in 1981 at the Gowlett Gallery, as part of her efforts to raise public consciousness around the government demolition of District Six – a vibrant, mixed-race area close to the centre of Cape Town. Materials gathered directly from the demolition sites were heaped in the centre of the gallery and surrounded by six dining room chairs borrowed from a District Six friend while an audio tape played. Iziko has commissioned a new installation which will re-visit and re-imagine this seminal, but long since destroyed, work as part of this retrospective. The same six chairs will form the centre of the new work, borrowed once again from the family for the occasion.
Writing on art has also played a pivotal role in Williamson’s life. Her first book, Resistance Art in South Africa (1989), alerted the international art world to the role played by the work of South African artists in challenging the apartheid state and supporting the struggle for freedom.
After the fall of apartheid Williamson’s work shifted to the growing social, political and economic problems that continued to complicate transformation within the fledgeling democracy. Her work challenged issues such as the lack of government provision of anti-retrovirals for people living with HIV/AIDS, the difficult legacy of colonialism, xenophobia and the shortcomings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, amongst others. She became the founding editor of the website ArtThrob, still the go-to source internationally for information on South African art and artists.
Williamson has had numerous solo exhibitions worldwide and been represented on ten biennales. Until now there has never been a retrospective surveying her entire career and showcasing her most important works. Eight significant works from the Iziko art collections, namely: A Few South Africans; For Thirty Years Next to His Heart; Can’t Forget, Can’t Remember; There’s something I must tell you; Last Supper at Manley Villa, From the Inside: Benjamin Borrageiro; The Long Journey of the Brothers Ngesi; and Messages from the Moat, will anchor the exhibition, in addition to loans from collectors and galleries from across the country. Wall texts and contemporary ephemera throughout the exhibition will give context to the artist’s work, and objects and letters from her personal archive will be shown in a simulation of her Cape Town studio.
Williamson’s oeuvre in many ways reflects the major historical moments and debates that have shaped South Africa since the 1980s. Williamson has always been an exceptionally socially and politically responsive artist and as such her work engenders discussion and consideration of these issues today. The exhibition provides a backdrop to understanding the path that South Africa has taken and offers warnings and solutions for the future.
Experience the depth and breadth of Williamson’s opus in this exploration of memory, identity, and history. Sue Williamson: There’s something I must tell you: a retrospective exhibition, will be on show at the Iziko South African National Gallery, 1 Government Avenue Cape Town.
Open daily, Monday to Sunday from 09:00 until 17:00, excluding Workers’ Day.
Tickets available online via Webtickets www.webtickets.co.za or at the door.
