The new artistic age of self-representation
A necessary reprieve from the market logic of established galleries has been helped along by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has opened online doors for artists and collectors alike.
Culture
‘Umbango’, South Africa’s original western
The 1986 film was part of apartheid’s scheme to keep township dwellers docile through cinematic escapism. It backfired and now the cult hit has been newly digitised and restored.
Dumisa Ntsebeza demonstrates ‘The Art of Being Human’
A film about the human rights lawyer from Cala, free to watch online during the Encounters Documentary Festival, chronicles the deep sense of justice that shaped his life.
Text Messages | A missed moment
Had James Baldwin been permitted to speak alongside Martin Luther King Jr in 1963, we may have had a speech the likes of ‘I Have a Dream’.
Visual essay | On two years of the BKhz Gallery
The young artist and gallerist reflects on what he has learned about community and collaboration in art since opening the space in Braamfontein.
Banele Khoza feels love’s reality
The artist’s new virtual exhibition continues his compelling meditations on the complexities of love. He speaks about his muses, the music that inspires him, loneliness and lockdown.
Mark Gevisser and the new human rights frontier
The author of The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers says queer people face a backlash because they’re breaking new ground in claiming a space for themselves.
Book Review | Sh*t’s Real, Let’s Heal
Chef Khanya Mzongwana created and released a cookbook during the coronavirus lockdown that tackles diet culture and mental illness, and is all about finding pleasure and refuge in food.
Remembering Zindzi Mandela, the writer
Her poetry anthology Black As I Am, published towards the end of the Black Consciousness era, is a window into the life of a child in apartheid and remains painfully relevant today.
Text Messages | Beirut, bread and the machine
Beirut’s grain silos have gone the way of The Greater Bread Company in Hassan Daoud’s novel, the former lost to an ammonium nitrate blast and the latter to mechanisation.
Athi-Patra Ruga brings the outsider in
The artist’s latest exhibition uses the power and politics of stained glass and tapestry to comment on society’s exclusions, create joy and console the grieving.
Music Review | Flowers of the Revolution
Nahash’s new EP uses harsh industrial sounds to create a sonic response to America’s role in installing dictators in Central and South America.
Marcus Wyatt brings musicians playing alone, together
Marcus Wyatt’s latest project fits diverse isolated improvisations together, experimenting with musical co-creation during Covid-19, and perhaps beyond it.
From Lisbon’s projects, Nidia’s musical goal is global
The evolving sound on a trio of recent releases by this young producer is undeniable proof of her multidimensional talent – and why no one should doubt her musical ambition.
Text Messages | On second thoughts
Not achieving the distinction of being first but instead coming second tends to cause dismay. But in the case of the Nagasaki bombing it also meant being last, which is a blessing.
Zwelakhe Ngobese’s hyperreal pen art
The self-taught artist from Duduza has a growing following for his ballpoint pen depictions of ‘the beauty of being in black skin’.
Gilbert Matthews, pioneer and visionary of SA jazz
The late jazz great and titan of drums sparked innovation and inspired the jazz fusion explorations of the 1970s.
The complex history of Cape Muslim cuisine
The lineage of food rooted in more than 350 years of exile and slavery – its connections and disconnections, presence and absence – can be traced from the Malay Archipelago to Cape Town.
Thandi Ntuli’s deep exploration of exile
The pianist and composer’s latest release, Thandi Ntuli (Live at Jazzwerkstatt), adds new insight into her music: how it’s put together, how it sounds and what it says.
The ‘beautiful experience’ of making and hearing Keleketla!
Three years in the making by Keleketla! Library and Coldcut, Keleketla! is a global fusion record that satisfies as a whole, delivering its punch with spectacular musical activism.
Photo Essay | So, how was Fest?
Makers and lovers of theatre reflect on the experience of this year’s National Arts Festival, which was pushed online by the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown restrictions.