Suzy Bell An advert running in the local Durban newspapers has caused quite a stir among some verkrampte readers, who have deemed it perverted and pornographic. It may be vaguely shocking or clichd titillation, but it’s also an artistic image. Two of the Fantastic Flying Fish dancers are surrounded by a soft pink glow, created […]
Suzy Bell `Have you heard there’s a female Muslim artist in Durban making porn art?” I heard someone say. So I scooted off to the University of Durban-Westville to meet the Durban arts graduate, Asiya Swaleh. The artist was, at first, quite measured in her response. “People may come to my exhibition purely to be […]
The black don of South African advertising has clinched one of the biggest empowerment transactions, writes Ferial Haffajee It’s been a buoyant year for advertising guru Peter Vundla, who has sealed a R1,8-billion deal for a top food company in the third-largest transfer of wealth from white to black hands in South Africa’s history. His […]
Andy Capostagno Rugby The Super 12 is heading inexorably towards a conclusion and, while the whole country may be looking for scapegoats to explain the dismal efforts of South Africa’s regional selections, the whole country doesn’t have to find a solution. Nick Mallett does. But given the weight upon his coat-hanger shoulders, the big man […]
Charl BlignautOn stage in Johannesburg There is a bizarre moment in the Johannesburg Market Theatre/Stockholm Stadtsteater co-production of August Strindberg’s 1901 tragi-comedy Dance of Death when the subtle, classic lighting design suddenly spins out of orbit and transforms the stage into a discotheque, John Kani’s cantankerous Captain thrusting his arm in the air like a […]
They’re a dance band who don’t dance, recording stars who rarely record. Yet their sound is everywhere, writes Lindsay Baker What with one thing and another, Massive Attack have taken their time. Their three albums to date have taken as long to appear as The Beatles’ entire recording career. But, gradually and quietly, their sound […]
Chris Roper: On show in Cape Town The Association for Visual Arts, or AVA as it’s more popularly known, has got three distinct exhibition spaces on its premises in the trendy Church Street Mall. Their habit of showing three different exhibitions in the respective spaces means that the viewer is often forcibly made aware of […]
Angella Johnson Traditional healers have accused the pharmaceutical industry of trying to muscle in on their lucrative natural herbal market after a company was ordered to stop producing products to be sold over the counter. Pharmacare, a division of South African Druggists, was told by the Medicines Control Council (MCC) to stop making four cure-all […]
David Shapshak Press freedom in Africa, where it has traditionally been squashed by the myriad of dictatorships on the continent, has been infinitively enhanced by the growth of the Internet and the resultant access to, and dissemination of, information it brings. While print media may be banned or suppressed for publishing dissenting views about a […]
Swapna Prabhakaran Durban has a long way to go before it becomes an undisputed party capital of the world, but it can certainly dream. “Imagine, if you will, 4 000 drummers in one stadium in Durban beating the various rhythms of the world, while thousands more drummers join in via satellite link from around the […]