The art department at St John’s College hosted their annual art exhibition on 21 October with a magnificent collection of matric and sixth-form work on display.
Many of the works were created in response to the theme given by the IEB: Liminal.
Dr Adele Adendorff from the University of Pretoria opened the evening by introducing the audience to the meaning of the word liminal. She likened liminality to a space where one experiences a change, where one is removed from society to transform before being accepted back into society again. She argued that young artists should allow themselves to linger in liminality a little longer to allow for the questioning of society that will one day accept them back.
The learner’s art displayed evidence of this questioning with their creations serving as empathetic responses to a loaded theme.
Some artworks spoke to the limited space experienced in a society where certain religions are less understood because they have been negatively stereotyped. Other learners looked at coming of age in the contemporary form of traditional bildungsroman. Others explored ideas about the liminality between concrete binaries such as wealth and poverty, past and present and male and female.
Head of visual art at St John’s College Belinda Donnelly said, “One thing is for sure, our youth are aware of the world they occupy, they are questioning what they hear and see on the news, they are questioning what is deemed to be normal and they are conscious of their audience in the execution of their art.
Donnelly said the exhibition was full of engaging conversation and unique eye-opening insight into the minds of learners.
“I want to thank fellow educators Michael Crouch and Jaco van den Heever for all the effort that they put into the creative process to achieve artworks that successfully communicate complex concepts. An additional thank you is extended to all who attended the evening. I am sure your curiosity was piqued,” concluded Donnelly.
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