Freedom Day openings at AVA Gallery reflect the significant role of the Association for Visual Arts in the history of the arts in Southern Africa.
Arguably their finest moment was in the 1980s when artists were giving voice to the liberation struggle. In the face of severe censorship, the AVA was one of the few public spaces which presented artists who defied the machinery of apartheid. The three exhibitions pay tribute to those times
“Stoned – Remembering the 80’s” curated by Cheryl Traub-Adler
On Freedom Day we will be able to pay homage to those who put their talent to the cause in Cheryl Traub-Adler’s curation of 20 significant artists from that turbulent time. Names like David Hlongwane, Mario Pissarra, Garth Erasmus, Sophie Peters, and Kevin Brand set the main gallery alight with their stark and powerful images. “Stoned” is the provocative title of the show which brings to light some of the hidden gems from the personal and public archives.
The other shows are provocations from the contemporary psyche.
St John Fuller’s “Safe Space”
St John Fuller’s “Safe Space” which challenges us to imagine our personal journeys in relation to trauma. Innovative “stages” allow the viewer an intimate experience of (physically) interactive art.
“How To Be Black For Beginners”
Young gun Thuthukani Myeza takes over the mezzanine gallery with “How To Be Black For Beginners”, an autobiographical provocation in pastiched digital and print media.
The Freedom Day opening will see participating artists welcome you from 5 pm, come early in case of loadshedding. For more information about each exhibition, see below.
WHAT: Freedom Day openings at AVA Gallery
WHERE: AVA Gallery, 35 Church Street, Cape Town 8001
WHEN: Freedom Day 27 April at 17:00 | Closes 23 June 2023 | Gallery Hours Mon to Fri 10:00 – 17:00 and Sat 10:00 – 13:00
INFO: T +27 21 424 7436 | E stefan@ava.co.za | Visit
PHOTO ABOVE: Billy Mandindi
“Stoned – Remembering the 80’s” curated by Cheryl Traub-Adler
This is an exhibition that constellates the work of artists that originated out of the Cape Town based Michaelis School of Art , Community Arts Project, and the Vakalisa Art Associates network.
These works and posters were produced during a critical moment of apartheid repression. A decade where Southern Africa was in an undisclosed civil war and artists utilized their skills as a form of resistance and expression of their trauma.
The use of printed medium, woodblock, scraper-board, linocut, pencil,and ball-point pen were put to use as social commentary and to disseminate information in a time before the internet.
As an archival show, the visual lens is not centered around aesthetics. The viewer is invited to participate in the activation of these memories, to think about our collective humanity and what is at stake If we disregard each other?
ARTISTS: Ângela Ferreira, Billy Mandindi (lead image at top), Brett Murray, David Hlongwane, Diane Paulse, Emile Maurice, Gaby Cheminais, Garth Erasmus, Grant Schreiber, Jane Solomon, Janet Purcell, Jann Cheifitz, John Muafangejo, Jonathan Berndt – photo R above), Kevin Brand, Louise Linder, Lovell Friedman, Lynne Lomofsky, Manfred Zylla, Mario Pissarra, Michael Barry, Nicolaas Maritz, Patricia de Villiers, Paul Grendon, Roger van Wyk, Sophie Peters, Terry Kurgan, Zbigniew Kaczmarak.
St John Fuller’s “Safe Space”
The feeling of what constitutes a safe space is not universal.
The artist had been working on a project that took place in a “safe space”. This was supposed to be a refuge for the vulnerable, for those in need of a caring environment. Yet for much of his time there he did not feel safe. Physically he knew that he would come to no harm but his unease was the knowledge of the unprocessed violence that had happened there.
Imagine a space where a perpetrator is allowed to exist as simultaneously definitely guilty and completely innocent, depending on who you speak to. Sometimes those diametrically opposed states are put forward by a single party. High-stake accusations are made and then undermined by herd behaviours and “calls to forgive”. The result leads to further confusion and a breakdown in trust.
Our past experiences can mould how we feel about our present situations. Sometimes we may not understand why we feel good or bad in a space, but the feeling is there. This exhibition encourages the viewer to explore their own stories of trauma and dis-ease through interacting with the individual stages presented by the artist on the gallery walls. In a safe space.
“How To Be Black For Beginners” – Thuthukani Myeza
Thuthukani’s work explores the “beauty and dread of being black and African”. It is heavily influenced by narratives from
apartheid and segregation to colonial and precolonial Africa. He defines his part in this process as being a visual historian, reclaiming and distributing the legacies of his people.
Ever since he was a child, he has been fascinated by African culture. What started as a yearning to know soon became a journey down a rabbit hole where he discovered histories that were not taught in schools.
His work is a reshaping of the narratives hidden behind the paywalls of the privileged and the viewer is left holding a hymn to the richness of his culture and a chorus to how badly they were treated, in a world where the beauty of a continent is still held hostage in museums and galleries of the oppressor’s descendants
The WHAT, WHY & WHERE of the
arts scene in around Cape Town
see the 2023 art craft + museums_map
and listen in to the Sanlam
Arts Round Up Fridays @16.10
on Fine Music Radio FMR 101.3fm
The FMR App makes it even easier to tune into the Sanlam Arts Round Up on Fridays! i-Phone HERE | Android HERE
