Mountain & Maritime Mythologies
Mountain & maritime mythologies explores visual representations of folklore relating to South Africa’s diverse mountain & maritime environments with a focus on Cape Muslim, amaXhosa, San, amaZulu & European knowledge systems.
Cyril Coetzee’s T’kama Adamastor connects a constellation of mythologies surrounding the Cape. A series of prints by Cecil Skotnes thread through the exhibition, telling stories of sea voyages, the geographies of the Cape & the life of Shaka kaSenzangakhona, King of the Zulus. San rock paintings of European ships & wagons reflect on how indigenous people understood the arrival of the settlers.
Maps are positioned as mythologies due to the ways in which Europeans projected their desires & biases on to these early depictions of the African continent.
Women
Resistance & Rights
Sue Williamson created A Few South Africans to celebrate the roles of women who participated in the long and protracted struggle against Apartheid. The sepia photographs were used to make photo-etchings which were combined with other techniques such as aquatint and hand drawing. The framing devices pay homage to a common domestic practice in South African townships whereby coloured paper and printed ephemera are repurposed to embellish family photographs.
To celebrate the adoption of the nation’s new Bill of Rights Coral Vinsen, Terry-Anne Stevenson and Jan Jordaan conceived the Images of Human Rights project. This was in collaboration with ‘Artists for Human Rights’, formed by Coral Vinsen & Lorna Ferguson in Durban in 1988 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. The selected linocut prints on display relate to the everyday private and public lives of women, referring to issues such as family, safety, housing and education.
Harry Oppenheimer
“As Chairman of Anglo American and De Beers, Harry Oppenheimer held sway over his family’s gold and diamond empire for a quarter of a century. He combined a passion for commerce with a streak of creative genius.”
Harry Oppenheimer: Diamonds, gold and dynasty by Michael Cardo
Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2023
Past Exhibitions
AFRICAN BIRDS
THE 1922 RAND REBELLION
BOTANICAL ART
CHARLES HAMILTON SMITH
African hoofed animals
ZULU WARS
ELLAPHIE WARD-HILHORST
Botanical artist
THOMAS BOWLER
Artist at the Cape
THE FOUNDING OF JOHANNESBURG
CONSTANCE STUART LARRABEE
1914–2000
MAJOR A B CREE
British Regiments in South Africa 1795–1902
