Selected works by Phumulani Ntuli and Thalente Khomo from the ArtBankSA Contemporary Collection
Beyond Walls: Emerging Contemporary Voices, currently on show at Oliewenhuis Art Museum, draws from the ArtBankSA Contemporary Collection to stage an encounter with some of the most urgent enquiries in South African art practice today: questions of intergenerational knowledge transmission, cultural custodianship, contested memory, and the continuous formation of identity.
ArtBankSA commemorates Human Rights Day through the lens of photographer Thando Mama, Izingqi Zesikhumbuzo (2016–2017), housed in ArtBankSA’s contemporary collection
On 21 March 1960, sixty-nine people were killed outside the Sharpeville police station in what became one of the most widely documented atrocities of the apartheid era.
Within the ArtBankSA collection, through annual acquisition cycles and Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP) art creating initiatives, an archive of photography-based artworks has been built. These artworks are more than traditional camera-to-print images, as the material life of the photograph through experimental and hybrid forms employed by the artist has resulted in new ways of presenting an image.
It’s a humid and humming Tuesday night. People spill out and slide into the main gallery space of the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts (KZNSA) to hear the opening speeches for Izihlahla Ziyokhuluma (Fig. 1), a 10-year anniversary celebration of the Durban-based Amasosha Collective[1] and their artists’ works. Once one makes it through the entry, portraiture made with beads to blue painted and purple hue faces dominate the white walls of the KZNSA gallery.
Introduction
South Africa’s contemporary art scene is a vibrant reflection of its diverse cultural and social landscape. Black female artists, in particular, have played a critical role in redefining artistic narratives, often addressing issues of identity, gender, social justice and historical memory. The Art Bank of South Africa (ArtbankSA), established in 2017 under the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, is instrumental in fostering and supporting these artists.