Crafts, such as beading and weaving, are taking bold steps forward after a rather unusual project came to Johannesburg last weekend.
The South Project — an Australian initiative aimed at developing a dialogue on artistic issues across the southern hemisphere — held several workshops in Soweto and Newtown, convened by local and international artists of craft, the visual arts and dance.
Magdalena Moreno, a Melbourne resident, originally from Chile, coordinated the workshops. This was the project’s first step into Africa. ‘This is the first of what we hope will be many. In South Africa we find a real sense of community, a sense of a collective identity,” she said at a Soweto workshop. ‘We try to bring voices together that wouldn’t normally converge. A lot of it [the discussion] is about dealing in global markets, positioning, funding arts, how to sustain a craft and keep bread on the table.”
She was quick, however, to dismiss any notion that the dialogues were about economically well-off Australians showing Africa ‘how it’s done”. ‘We’re not about bringing in a colonial-esque perspective but rather, we want to say, ‘This is what we have, you can learn from us and we can learn from you’; the formula is un-prescribed. We rely on participants to set the agenda … our strength is in giving voice, visibility and a context,” Moreno said.
But why the focus on the southern hemisphere? ‘The ‘South’ is a curious proposition. How do you give meaning to what is merely a direction?” asked Kevin Murray, director of Craft Victoria in Australia. ‘Unlike the ‘North’, which is inscribed with Nordic sagas and European romanticism, the South seems a relatively blank slate. Any project that seeks to realise the idea of South seems more about inventing a new identity than uncovering a lost one.”
Said Moreno: ‘The idea is to engage globally, breaking down perceived hierarchies. This can be a catalyst, raising questions and issues in a way that counteracts the idea that your only value, as an artist, is in acting North.”
Workshop themes included: critical writing on the arts, a discussion on the status of the contemporary art critic; dance and creative movement, which sought to explore how the traditional nature of African dance manifested itself in the contemporary diverse culture; and regenerated material and found objects, a look at how recycled and raw materials can and have influenced the nature of creative practice.
Johannesburg artist Clifford Charles took responsibility for arranging the artists who participated in the workshops. ‘I feel the choices are reflective of the South; we tried to bring in as many different voices into a session as possible.”
Johannesburg Art Gallery curator Khwezi Gule and Australian curator Maree Clarke, of the Koorie Heritage Trust, engaged in a public platform debate on artistic market perceptions, while Vuyani Dance Theatre Project choreographer Gregory Maqoma joined Australian dancers in a movement session with local children.
‘The point is to have it appeal to different constituencies and to engage different people,” said Charles.