Alfred Thoba's A Step Becomes A Statement exhibition at Wits Art Museum
Wits Art Museum in Johannesburg is currently presenting A step becomes a statement, an exhibition by South African painter Alfred Thoba. He is an artist who found his feet as an anti-apartheid artist, the exhibition draws inspiration from newspaper articles and his own personal experiences. This has been a notable element of Thoba's paintings.
For more news, visit: sabcnews.com
Johannesburg Art Gallery: Gerard Sekoto [1913-1993]
Jan Gerard Sekoto was born on 9 September 1913 in Botshabelo, a mission station established by the German missionaries amongst the Pedi community in the Middelburg district of the Transvaal (now Mpumalanga).
He was the son of Andreas Sekoto, a leading member of the new Christian converts. Sekoto was schooled at Wonderhoek, which was established by his father, a priest and teacher. In 1930, he attended the Grace Dieu institute. Here he completed his Standard Six (Grade Eight), and went on to study to become a teacher at the Diocesan Training College near Pietersburg. The writer Peter Abrahims and artists and political activists such as Ernest Mancoba, also attended the same school and, like Sekoto, later choose to go into exile.
From 1934 to 1938, Sekoto taught at Khaiso Secondary School near Pietersburg. He became close to Louis Makenna, Nimrod Ndelele and Ernest Mancoba, who had graduated at Fort Hare University. This highly gifted and creative foursome enriched each other’s lives, and the intellectual and artistic life of the school. This is where Sekoto’s interest in art took on another dimension. In 1938, he won second prize in a national art competition organised by Ester Bedford at the University of Fort Hare. This encouraged Sekoto to quit teaching and move to Sophiatown, where in 1939 he began painting full-time. During this time he received encouragement from John Mohl and Brother Roger Castle of St Peter's Secondary School in Rosettenville. Sekoto continued exhibiting his art work regularly. On 13 December 1989 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). In 2004 Sophiatown unveiled the Sekoto mural that depicts Archbishop Trevor Huddleston walking the dusty streets of Sophiatown.
Sekoto passed away on 20 March 1993 at the age of 79, six months before his 80th birthday.
References:
• Davie, L. (2004) ‘Sophiatown unveils Sekoto mural’, 1 November, [online], available at southafrica.info(Accessed: 22 August 2013)
• South African History Online, ‘Jan Gerard Sekoto’, [online], available at sahistory.org.za(Accessed: 22 Aug
Music: Lette Mbuli - Not yet Uhuru
Constructed perspectives with Hasan & Husain Essop
Hasan & Husain Essop recently had a photographic exhibition, titled REFUGE at the Goodman Gallery in Rosebank. The exhibition explores migration and the displacement of people from the Muslim world, however they also illustrate the general displacement of people throughout Africa and the world, caused by conflict, economic or man-made issues. The brothers seek to also shine a light on the ways in which the media portrays the Muslim world and how easy it is to fabricate images for ones own self serving purposes.