Archive: Issue No. 99, November 2005

4.11.05 Roger Ballen at the DAG
4.11.05 Wim Botha at the DAG
4.11.05 'Unsettled' at the DAG
4.11.05 Themba Siwela at the Bat Centre
4.11.05 Desmond Zeederberg at artSPACE durban
4.11.05 Dina Cormick at the African Art Centre
4.11.05 'Women for Children' at the DAG

7.10.05 Wim Botha at the TAG
7.10.05 Themba Shibase at the KZNSA Gallery
7.10.05 Aidan Walsh at the KZNSA Gallery
7.10.05 Colleen Alborough at the KZNSA Gallery
7.10.05 Imagination Lab at artSPACE durban
7.10.05 The Johansson Collection at the TAG
 

Award-winning photographer Roger Ballen, who is known for the social commentary in his previous publications Dorps, Small Towns of South Africa; Platteland, Images from Rural South Africa and Outland, now explores in Shadow Chamber, the underbelly and the shadow chamber of existence.

Ballen's photographs are striking, ambiguous images of people, animals and objects posed in mysterious, cell-like rooms that occupy the grey area between fact and fiction. They blur the boundaries between documentary photography and art forms such as painting, theatre and sculpture. The results are completely abstract and not defined by the origins or specific location of the characters he photographs. Ballen focuses on the interactions between the people, animals and objects that inhabit mysterious rooms - the shadow chamber. The rooms are unsettling and strange: their walls are covered with scribbled drawings, stains and dangling wires, the floors are strewn with bizarre props and artefacts. Dogs, rabbits and kittens wander into the frame or are stuffed into unlikely containers. Figures hide away in boxes, crouch behind overstuffed sofas and squat with their shirts pulled over their heads.

The works from Shadow Chamber and Outland will be exhibited first at the Durban Art Gallery, then move on to the Sasol Museum, Oliewenhuis Bloemfontein, as well as the Everard Read and Heidi Erdmann Galleries.

Opens: November 2
Closes: January 16, 2006

Wim Botha's travelling Standard Bank Young Artist Award exhibition began its year long tour at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and concludes its run at the Standard Bank Gallery in July next year.

Botha works in multiple media, with sculptures, etchings, paintings and drawings all forming part of his intricate installations. These reflect on and subvert the symbolic imagery of power, religion and art history. By visually interfering with venerated forms of art, artefact and decoration, the artist questions the implications of systems and structures that attempt to define who we are. In several of his installations this subversion alludes to the systemic decay inherent in symbolic representations related to power. This is coupled with a reconstructive desire, simulating found imagery in an altered way that allows the possibility of a revision of our assumptions.

Included in the exhibition is the Mieliepap Pietà, a life-size mirrored replica of Michelangelo's original, modelled in maize meal and epoxy resin. The sculpture was first exhibited at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York last year on 'Personal Affects', where it simultaneously commented on western traditions and was appropriated by worshippers as part of the fabric of the church. Botha is also well known for his Christ figure carved out of bibles, titled 'Commune: suspension of disbelief' and 'Commune: onomatopoeia', a complex installation of a suspended room, which is currently touring Europe on 'Africa Remix', a survey of the contemporary art of the continent.

Opens: November 23
Closes: January 27, 2006

A Decade of Democracy in South Africa was marked by many celebratory ventures on the arts and culture calendar. The focus on the changes within the new South Africa is the main inspiration for 'Unsettled: 8 South African Photographers'. This exhibition, curated by Mads Damsbo, in conjunction with the Museum of Photography in the Royal Library, Copenhagen, celebrates the 10th anniversary of the ending of apartheid in South Africa. The invited South African photographers include Jodi Bieber, Adam Broomberg, Oliver Chanarin, David Goldblatt, Santu Mofokeng, Jo Ractliffe, Guy Tillim and Nontsikelelo Veleko. The works explore the transformations in the new South Africa, from the optimism and solidarity to the ever present tensions, conflicts and challenges.

Opens: November 2005
Closes: November 2005

In an exhibition aptly titled 'Young Black and Gifted' artist Themba Siwela showcases a selection of graphics and cartoons. The exhibition includes Siwela's quirky politically-inspired cartoons, and also the opportunity to purchase some of his social commentary.

Siwela has won a number of awards, including the BMW National Art Competition, the Amasi Egula National Art Competition, the Colgate Spread A Smile National Art Competition (First Prize - 1994, Second Prize - 1995) and the Trevor Makhoba Legacy Art Competition (First Prize - 2004). He participated in the Comic Brew Workshop at Wits University and the Ten Years of Democracy Cartoon Workshop in Pietermaritzburg. He has also been invited by the British Council as a guest cartoonist to the British Council UKUZA Conference and was a finalist for the British Council Young Cartoonist Project in London in 2004.

Opens: 2pm, November 5
Closes: November 16

Perceiving and visually documenting the way one understands and interprets the world around us fascinates artist Desmond Zeederberg. He notes that many strive to attain perfect perception through religious enlightenment, some deliberately skew theirs through the use of chemicals, and many allow others to formulate their perceptions for them.In this, Zeederberg's first solo exhibition at aSd, he tries to distance himself from his own perceptions and create artworks from the viewpoint of randomly chosen individuals. He finds it impossible to withdraw completely so what is left is a hybrid, cross-pollinated, almost chaotic body of work.

Zeederberg has exhibited previously as part of the Durban Art Gallery�s Red Eye Art event. A recent installation, entitled Work, comprised the visually spectacular hanging of over 500 orange rubber gloves in a tree in Farewell Square, Smith Street, Durban.

Opens: November 7
Closes: November 19

In an exhibition titled 'Delighting in Life', sculptor Dina Cormick sets out to celebrate the sacrament of life, emotionally, spiritually and physically. Her artworks capture moments such as rites of passage. Her focus is predominantly on women: 'I feel very strongly that art has an important formative role to play in our lives. I am committed to a reclaiming and enkindling of the spiritual resources of women through a visual theology.'

Opens: November 16
Closes: December

Children's rights, like those of the women in South Africa, Africa and large parts of the developing world, remain invisible. To address this, Art for Humanity (AFH) has initiated the 'Women for Children' project. Throughout history, art has acted not only as a form of expression, but also as a means for artists to raise controversial issues, shed light on unspoken topics and has been the source of critical debate. AFH wishes to raise awareness around the issue of children's rights and to inspire a sense of moral ownership and social responsibility towards the rights of children.

Some of the contributing artists include Bronwen Vaughan-Evans, Kim Berman, Gabi Ngcobo, Diane Victor, Lien Botha, Gabisile Nkosi, Judith Mason, Phillipa Hobbs and Bronwen Findlay.

Opens: November 19
Closes: January 16

Wim Botha, winner of the 2005 Standard Bank Young Artist Award, is essentially an installation artist, working with multiple media to produce sculpture, etchings, paintings and drawings. His work is characterised by, amongst other things, a reflection and subversion of the symbolic imagery of power, religion and art history. The artist asks questions related to the underlying implications of systems and structures that attempt to define who we are.

Botha graduated from the University of Pretoria in 1996 and has since become one of the most prominent young artists in South Africa. He has held four solo exhibitions and his work has been included in group exhibitions nationally and internationally.

Opens: October 6
Closes: November 6

In an exhibition of paintings titled 'd'urban critique', Durban-based artist Themba Shibase will present a body of work on found board and paper. Shibase interrogates new identities in an urban context and his works are based on the relationships between traditional cultural manifestations and the contemporary world. He is currently completing his MA in Fine Art at the Durban Institute of Technology and is the curator of the Art Gallery at D.I.T.

Opens: October 15
Closes: November 13

Aidan Walsh, the well-known Durban painter is presenting a series of new paintings, investigating and depicting Karoo landscapes and scenes. As a consumate observationist, Walsh provides a fascinating portrayal of his journeys through the hinterlands, establishing an empathy with the subject, and allows new readings of these seemingly desolated and 'empty' spaces.

Opens: October 15
Closes: November 13

Colleen Alborough's installation 'Night Journey' provides an interactive environment that relies on viewer participation, using technology in a way that is quite novel in the visual arts in SouthAfrica. Inviting active engagement, the installation explores and interrogates the epic journeys we embark on when the night shuts out our visible reality, and gives free reign to our hopes, fantasies, dreams, fears and nightmares.

As an artist Alborough is interested in the intersection between traditional art media and new technologies. She has presented labour-intensive environments utilising digital applications, which are combined into evocative and experiential spaces that foreground questions around identity, memory, social interactions and responsibilities and the exploration of self.

Opens: October 15
Closes: November 13

Imagination Lab presents an installation of student work from the past year, including a vast and varied exploration of concepts, places and media. Both the Westville and the Kwa Mashu campuses will be working in the gallery for a week prior to the opening, creating site-specific installations.

The Imagination Lab, as a joint initiative by Vega The Brand Communications School and CAFÉ (Communications and Advertising Forum for Empowerment), plays a crucial role in transforming the creative communication industry in South Africa. The Lab acts as a launch pad for young multi-skilled conceptual thinkers and dynamic problem solvers; individuals who challenge the conventional approach to creativity, business and life. Their aim is to encourage cultural and social sensitivity in students, so that the students can make informed creative decisions.

Opens: October 24
Closes: November 05

Uno and Lillemor Johansson worked at Rorke's Drift during the mid-1970s, during which time they acquired craft and art produced by students, a number of whom have subsequently become well-known South African artists. A generous donation by the Johanssons to the Tatham Art Gallery includes a collection of 31 prints, including work by Vuminkosi Zulu, Vincent Baloyi, Eric Mbatha and Caiphas Nxumalo.

Opens: October 27
Closes: December 4