As heavy rain swept across KwaZulu Natal in April 2022 — causing floods and landslides — homes, cars and businesses were destroyed leaving unimaginable damage across all fronts. The whole of KwaZulu Natal was left impacted. While some people were able to replace some lost or damaged items, artists could not do the same. As…
In the day to day living of our lives, as we pass thousands — if not millions — of faces in our lifetime, it can be easy to be consumed by the seeming vastness of life on earth. One might believe, from our devastating impact on it, that we as people outsize the world. However, the ocean…
The first in a series of performances by artist and choreographer Clara Delorme is called L’albâtre (Alabaster). Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving and is processed for plaster powder. In L’albâtre, the choreographer explores monochrome and invites us to examine the nature of the strange being she embodies,…
Much excitement fills the air of Makhanda, from its highest peaks at the Monument to the Valleys of Rhodes University, as the first in-person National Arts Festival takes place following the surge of the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, we were all ready for a return to the theatre space. That excitement found its way into the…
Over the last week or so, Dutch artist Theo Jansen and his art exhibit named Strandbeest which means “beach animals” in English went viral on Twitter. The exhibition is of “creatures” made of various materials that are engineered to walk or even fly over beaches. It’s barely surprising that such an interesting and unique mix of…
With the trajectory of film moving forward from the centralisation of big studio ideas and principles such as, Warner Brothers, Sony and Walt Disney, it is important to have a look at the new emergence of film houses producing some impactful work. Despite the cinematography, the important work that is being done is through alternative…
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” Anonymous Artist Deborah Roberts’ new art exhibition titled I Have Something To Tell You, will be unveiled in London this week. The exhibition, which contains some of Roberts’ greatest paintings, highlights the barriers that Black children face…
Yin is to yang. Summer is to winter. Similarly, Art Pop is to Minimalism. The former is representative and embracing of the art within the commercialised world of mass production yet the latter recoils at the sight of that and embraces the power of less. Thus their common ground is merely the vague “art world”….
Born in Ghana, Gideon Appah is a visual artist best known for his expressive paintings and drawings that bring together personal experiences, historical references and mythology. Presented at the Institute for Contemporary Art — Virginia Commonwealth University — Forgotten, Nudes, Landscapes is Appah’s first institutional solo exhibition that coalesces diverse mediums to register and reflect…
Curated by Joseph Gergel, Crossed Looks includes approximately 90 works from the Guinean Swiss photographer Namsa Leuba‘s initiatives in Guinea, South Africa, Nigeria, Benin and Tahiti. The Halsey Institute presented Crossed Looks from August to December 2021 — being Leuba’s first solo exhibition in the United States. Namsa Leuba moved to Guinea Conkary, her mother’s…
In their seminal book, Biennials, Triennials, and Documenta: The Exhibitions that Created Contemporary Art, Anthony Gardner and Charles Green trace the history of mega exhibitions and consider their impact on the art ecology. Through this lens, they provide a reading of the “biennialization” of the art world. Gardner and Green argue that biennales have “brought…
“Everything can be used. Except what is wasteful. You will need to remember this when you are accused of destruction.” Audre Lorde I was having a conversation with a friend about art — wondering out loud — what is this for? What does it do? Why do we do all of this stuff? Nothing more…
