The Art and Literature (ArtLit exhibition) exhibition which recently opened its doors at the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Kimberley has bridged a cultural divide between the US based and South African artists. The exhibition was unveiled by the MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture Ms. Bernice Sinxeve on Tuesday, 08 October 2019 as part of the Provincial Writer's Festival.
The ArtLit (Art and Literature) is pinned down on the history of collaboration across art forms. "There are many such examples where poetry and music find a common outlet, or novels and film, theatre and poetry, music and dance and so forth. In this case the artists are showing us a conversation between literature, in particular African literature or literature by writers and poets of African origin, and visual art. Both art forms are telling human stories." said Sabata Mpho Mokae from the Sol Plaatje University's Human Sciences Department.
The exhibition is intended to have artists from two continents sharing the exhibition space and therefore seeing and beginning to treat each other as peers.
The platform presented the Namakwa born artist, Ulrich Roberts an opportunity to showcase his painting about township sufferings. His work of art depicts his own experience of everyday hardships coupled with the silent screams that often goes unnoticed. The painting tells the story of a mother that lost her child in a fire and the only sound is the silence."For me this platform is very significant as a Northern Cape artist sitting in a small town of Concordia to be able to speak to the world, speak to international media about our country, about our pain and about what we are able to achieve through art and through being communicating literature like my fellow artists."
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio in the United States of America, Derrick Bell’s craft is painting and making furniture. Like in any art, storytelling and advocating behavioural change is an important part of his practice. "This collaboration means so much to me since it’s my first time in Africa, South Africa I have never been outside of the US, so it means a lot to me, I have learned so much about the culture, made new friends and am thankful to just being a part of the show, I have never thought in a million years that I will be over here".
The selected works include that of Northern Cape-born poets Ingrid Jonker and Sandile Dikeni. There are also excerpts of the works of Chinua Achebe (Nigeria), Langston Hughes (USA), Don Mattera (South Africa), Ellen Khuzwayo (South Africa), Bessie Head (Botswana), Jamaica Kinkaid (Antigua) and Sol Plaatje (South Africa).
Participating artists from the Northern Cape include the legendary Rochester “Rocky” Mafafo, Xolani Kitsi and Pierre Cloete. Their counterparts from the states of Texas and California in the United States of America include, Clara Johnson and Isaac Alexander.
The exhibition has two legs; the first is in Kimberley (William Humphreys Art Gallery) and will be on until the beginning of summer (December) 2019 and the second leg is planned to be in Oakland, California in spring (March/April) 2020.