JOHANNESBURG — A selection of South African artworks produced during the country’s apartheid era and which ended up in foreign art collections are on display in Johannesburg to mark 30 years of the country’s transition to democracy in 1994.
Most of the artworks were taken out of the country by foreign tourists and diplomats who had seen them at the Australian Embassy in the capital, Pretoria. The embassy had opened its doors to black artists from the municipalities so that they could be recognized and exhibit their works of art to the public.
The artworks, which reflect the daily struggles of the country’s black majority during the apartheid era and the effects of racial segregation policies, are displayed alongside works by some of South Africa’s exciting contemporary artists.
The exhibition creates a mix of perspectives on South Africa through the eyes of artists who lived during and after the country’s most difficult period.
It is the culmination of efforts to repatriate valuable African artworks, artifacts and cultural objects to Africa by organizations such as the Ifa Lethu Foundation, which hosts the exhibition.
The organization has repatriated more than 700 pieces, including works by South African artist Gerard Sekoto, who died in Paris in 1993.
Similar efforts have been made across Africa, including Benin and Nigeria.
Some of the highlights of the exhibition are an undated piece titled “For the Children” by renowned South African artist and sculptor Dumile Feni, who died in New York in 1991 before being able to return to South Africa to witness the end of apartheid.
A 1987 piece titled “Mineworkers” by South African artist Mike Khali that addresses the plight of migrant workers in South Africa’s gold mines is also part of the exhibition, which is being held at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg.
Michael Selekane, a contemporary artist whose work is part of the exhibition, pointed out some of the technical obstacles faced by artists who came before him.
“The use of the material was limited for them. That is why most of his work is in black and white and are engravings. “Painting was an expensive medium to work with and the conditions were harsh,” he said.
“Rosy Future” and “Shattered” by Selekane are part of the exhibition.
“We need to reflect on the fact that we did not magically emerge as artists, there were people who marked the path to follow regardless of whether their context was difficult, complicated, impossible to do, they were resilient in what they were doing,” said Lawrence Lemaoana, artist contemporary whose work is also exhibited.
“In this period, art by black artists was not considered worth including in museums, galleries or corporate or private collections in South Africa,” notes exhibition curator Carol Brown.
“With the exception of a few outliers, including workshops such as Polly Street in Johannesburg and the Evangelical Lutheran Center in Rorke’s Drift, established by foreign missionaries in the former province of Natal, art education for black artists was minimal.”
“For much of their lives, they were denied art materials, books, and exhibitions,” Brown writes in her curatorial statement.
The works have been grouped thematically, it says: Suffering and conflict, Dreams of the future, Leisure and culture, City of gold, Whose land? and The Beginning.
“These themes invite contemplation of the socio-political landscape of today’s South Africa, but also allow us to see how the past influences and shapes the present, and how contemporary visions can highlight modernity in the underrated and underrated art produced under the “The terrible limitations of apartheid,” he said.
The exhibition will be open until July 31.
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