ART lovers arrived in their numbers at the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts (KZNSA) on Friday night, for the official opening of Zanele Muholi’s Ikhono laseNatali (Zulu for a talent or skill).
For the exhibition, Muholi collaborated with 25 young visual artists from KwaZulu-Natal, to interpret her ground-breaking Somnyama Ngonyama (hail the black lioness) series. Muholi explained that the initiative was fed by a desire to make more voices heard. “Young artists are speaking their own truths, they are using their own mediums. How do they look at my work? What do they feel?” she explained.
“As a visual activist, I took it upon myself with my own funds to share wealth, give artists an opportunity and a chance to create and now exhibit the work. This work is political to me because Somnyama Ngonyama is about politics of race, gender, spaces, politics of being resourced and financially supported to do what you do best. A lot of artists are good, but there are limited spaces to showcase their work. People hardly get collected by art collectors, if there are any that exist in Durban,” said Muholi.
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Artist Mondli Mbhele, who’s work questions the transformation of the life of a domestic workers after 25 years of freedom, explained that his interest in the difficult conditions that domestic workers face in their work environments, was sparked by his own personal experience.
“I use collage as my medium of expression, mostly newspapers because they carry important events and stories of people, but once people read it they throw them away. I collect those stories and recycle them into a new form of art, that will endure a new dialogue that will never be destroyed again,” he said.
In addition, artist Sphephelo Mnguni, who enjoys exploring various artistic modes of expression, including sound, film, painting, drawing, digital art and street art, said his focus is on the contemporary South African status quo. “My work is propelled by the hierarchies and inequality I observe through daily travels. I attempt to figure out the root cause behind these realities, post apartheid,” he said.
There are numerous educational activities planned during the course of exhibition including public and schools’ walkabouts. These will facilitate in-depth discussions on national, continental and international issues relevant to the artworks selected. Discussions will also provide a vibrant overview of South African contemporary art and art history, encouraging participants to engage in critical thinking and analysis through visual interactions and experience.The exhibition runs until 2 June.
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