A new show at Gallery Momo looks at our collective heritage.
■ Guy Wouete lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium and Douala, Cameroon. Trained in art and multimedia at the Rijksakademieé van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, Wouete’s work uses materials laden with symbol, materials that have absorbed the consciousness and identity of their previous owners. He also employs new technologies in his creations that, according to the preview information of his latest show, ‘represent and reflect the awareness that has led Homo sapiens from darkness into light”. Woete’s new show, at Gallery Momo, is titled La Téte de Dieu (The Head of God) and follows two shows in the Netherlands last year.
Gallery Momo, 7th Avenue, Parktown North until July 25. Tel: 011 327 3247.
■ Visual Art has always taken something of a backseat to dance, theatre and comedy at the National Arts Festival. This year things look different. The main festival line-up combines intelligent curating with cutting-edge new art and an innovative street-art programme. The festival, in association with Johannesburg Art Gallery, presents Alan Crump: A Fearless Vision, looking at the work of the late educator and festival committee chair. The Albany History Museum features two important retrospective surveys: For Future Generations is a showcase of legendary Grahamstown-based ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey’s legacy to African music, and People, Prints and Process engages the history of the Caversham Press in KwaZulu-Natal through works by William Kentridge, Mma-kgabo Helen Sebidi, Gabisile Nkosi and more. Contemporary highlights include solo exhibitions by the 2011 Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art, as well as the Burundi-born, Joburg-based artist Serge Alain Nitegeka’s … and walk in my shoes. The all-new CO/MIX exhibition combines inventive comic art and sculpture by a diversity of South Africans. Even the fringe is rising to the occasion, with a mix of edgy student and professional exhibitions.
National Arts Festival, various venues, Grahamstown, June 30 until July 10. Visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za for the programme.