Suzy Bell
DURBAN’s Joseph Manana is one of the 33 KwaZulu-Natal artists invited to exhib it in Stuttgart this month. This is the first time the African Art Centre in G ermany has collected South African artworks and this cultural exchange project sees the introduction of talented local artists like Manana, William Zulu and
Benjamin Nsusha.
Curator for Technikon Natal’s art gallery, Frances van Melsen says the current exhibition in Stuttgart is a multicultural show, reflecting the ambiguities o
f contemporary South Africa in its state of transition.
The idea came about when Durban artist, John Roome, and van Melsen were invite d to curate an exhibition of works on paper by KwaZulu-Natal artists living in and around Durban. The invitation came from the director of the Association o
f Arts in Stuttgart. “We selected 99 professional, student and self-taught art ists to give the German viewers a broad view of South African art.”
The two Durban artists selected to spend two weeks in Germany were Udhandan Go vender and Nsusha. They attended workshops and networked with prominent local artists. Govender, acting curator at the Durban Cultural Documentation Centre, says the KwaZulu-Natal art was “the hit of the show”.
“German artists are very interested in what we have to offer. They were especi ally excited to see the diversity in subject matter. But what fascinated them most of all was that many KwaZulu-Natal artists have had no formal training, s o they were impressed with the finesse and flair in the production of their wo rk.
“They were also intrigued by our use of symbols. They said they were intereste d in our interpretation of nature because we’ve attached it to a higher symbol ism. A top German collector has sculptures that look like they’re made from wo od – but they’re bronze and just painted with such a clever technique that mak es them look like wood.
“German artists also asked us for direction. At one of the workshops we met a woman who said she needed to explore more. She was interested in our advice an d told us it made her work much more organic.
“German art is generally quite clinical, very precise and mathematical, and, o f course, minimalist. In contrast, our works were seen to have much more freed om of expression and a sense of total celebration. We were also quite amazed a t how well off German artists are – they have studios the size of warehouses a nd great opportunities to exhibit. They have materials in abundance with many of their s culptures in parks and in the streets and they are well subsidised by the stat e. For us it was equally fascinating, especially now they are fusing performi ng arts with visual arts.”