As the rain clouds gather, Black South African Women Artists offers a reflection on the persuasive and often unacknowledged engagement of black women in twentieth-century South African art history through January 9, 2023.
Through the exhibition “When Rain Clouds Gather: Black South African Women Artists, 1940 – 2000“, curated by Portia Malatjie and Nontobeko Ntombela and curated by a Black African Women’s Action Center, the exhibition presents an intergenerational community of 40 black women artists from early modernism to the contemporary era to invite us to contemplate black women’s materials and the devices used to inspire them, while appreciating their tasteful creativity.
The exhibition, “When Rain Clouds Gather: Black South African Women Artists, 1940 – 2000“, places the scholarship of black women scholars at the center, offering an intriguing experience of history in which black women’s work is the article, strategy, and hypothesis of study.
The system is generative and plans to recognize Black artists as political specialists, otherworldly mediums, scholars and researchers, Black African women’s activists, itinerants of rustic and metropolitan scenes, applied masters of art, and producers.
The more than 120 works presented in the exhibition “When Rain Clouds Gather: Black South African Women Artists, 1940 – 2000“, expose the various recurring themes addressed during this period. One is reminded of the impacts of the 1948 execution of segregation and the racial and orientation shaming that preceded it, the highly sensitive situation of the 1980s, and the immediacy of the achievement of independence from the regime.
This political nature exists near concerns with social analysis, as does the strict and deep commitment. The obscure femininity, the family and the local space are regularly visited themes.
The thoughts investigated by the artists shown are emerging in a range of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, photography, mold, ceramics, installation, and materials.
Political thoughts and reflections are recognized in the works of Dorothy Zihlangu, who examines the engagement of black women in political struggles and upheaval.
Similarly, Bongi Dhlomo-Mautloa’s Removals series thinks about the forced evacuations of the segregation period and the erasure of black death due to the wickedness of the state.
This political scene takes on a more theoretical tone in Gladys Mgudlandlu and Mavis Mchunu’s ruminations on governmental questions of spatial routing in metropolitan and rural contexts.
Counterbalancing the mixed tone of the political and social, Patience Dlamini and Dinah Molefe provide an elective perspective, deciding to observe (black) love and ordinary life in seemingly uncorrupted provincial networks, while Bonnie Ntshalintshali calls for strict and profound imagery.
The diversity of class and identity is highlighted by many of the artists in the works, particularly in the way they address gender encounters.
When Rain Clouds Gather: Black South African Women Artists, 1940 – 2000, is intended to be a stage that asks questions rather than offering authoritative answers. It brings together the work of artists such as Mmakgabo Mapula Helen Sebidi, Gladys Mgudlandlu and Bongi Dhlomo-Mautloa, with lesser-known artists such as Valerie Desmore, Edith Bukhani and Sisanda Mbana.
In doing so, the exhibition, “When Rain Clouds Gather: Black South African Women Artists, 1940 – 2000” showcases the equal universes of mean value and style contrasts, largely organized around partitions in which black women have typically worked, and how these universes have rarely been experienced together.
This body of work begins to reveal the effect and scholarly commitments that black ladies made in South African art history over the previous century.
Drawing on this collection of artists, creativities, narratives, and perspectives, “When Rain Clouds Gather: Black South African Women Artists, 1940 – 2000“, shows the ways in which black women have had the opportunity to classify themselves within and outside of established foundations.
The exhibition “When Rain Clouds Gather: BLACK SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN ARTISTS, 1940 – 2000“, organized by Portia Malatjie and Nontobeko Ntombela and coordinated by the Norval Foundation, features works by Selina Baloyi, Regina Buthelezi, Dudu Cele, Edith Bukani, Ros Buthelezi, Valerie Desmore, Emilia, Faiza Galdhari, Bongiwe Dhlomo-Mautloa, Patience Dlamini, Josephine Ghesa, Bongi Kasiki, Noria Mabasa, Bina Gumede, Francis Halala, Diana Mabunda, Rosinah Maepa, Letisa Mashawu, Esther Maswanganyi, Esther Mahlangu, Venus Makhubele, Sisanda Mbana, Gladys Mgudlandlu, Judith Mkhabela, Dinah Molefe, Elizabeth Mbatha, Katherine Mchunu, Ruth Motau, Alina Ndebele, Gabisile Nkosi, Bonnie Ntshantshali, Sophie Peters, Henrie-e Ngako, Rita Ngcobo, Helen Sebidi, Kedibone Sarah Tabane and Alvitha Sooful.