Art of the Head in Africa
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GONE TO THEIR HEADS
Art of the Head in Africa
A new permanent exhibition of objects from the Standard Bank African Art
Collection, will be on view at the Standard Bank Gallery from 30 March
1999. The exhibition will be opened by Professor Nhlanhla Maake, Head
of Department of African Languages at the University of the
Witwatersrand, at 17:30 for 18:00 on 30 March 1999.
As in most human societies, in Africa the head is conceived as one of
the most significant parts of the body. It is the focus of many of the
processes intended to transform the body from a “natural” entity into
the body as a “cultural” identity. In many African conceptions of the
being, the head is the seat of the ancestral soul, the container of the
individual soul or psyche, of intelligence, but it is also a receptacle
for power. All over Africa the head, in both aspects, is the focus of
special attention which is manifest in a number of different forms of
address, from physical inscription in face painting, scarification,
cranial manipulation and hairstyling to metaphorical address through the
dressing of the head in specific ways.
The aim of this exhibition is to explore the ways in which the head is
conceptualised in African societies through visual culture. Thus the
objects on display have been selected because they can be used to shed
light on African conceptions of the head as an object of aesthetic and
philosophical contemplation. Objects on show include: masks,
headdresses, combs, sculptures depicting various heads and hairstyles,
heddle pulleys with carved heads, medicine gourds with carved stoppers,
hats, headrests, barber signs, commemorative cloths, as well as objects
carried on the head such as baskets. These items have been divided up
into a series of categories intended to draw attention to particular
aspects of African practices with regard to the head.
The exhibition has been curated by Professor Anitra Nettleton from the
History of Art Department at the University of the Witwatersrand. The
Standard Bank African Art Collection is permanently housed at the
University of the Witwatersrand Art Galleries.
Ends
Press Release Wednesday, February 17, 1999
Marion Arnold
Red data AND etc.
An exhibition of oil, watercolour paintings and pastel studies of
landscapes, plants, objects and words by Marion Arnold will be on
exhibition in the Standard Bank Gallery from 19 May to 12 June 1999.
The exhibition is a result of the artists move to Cape Town in 1992.
Here she became more conscious of living in a world of biodiversity and
beauty, severely endangered by humans. With this ecological concept in
mind, Marion began her Red data series by using The Red Data books as a
starting point. For Marion, these scientific publications signal
danger, as the Red Data List of Southern African Plants classifies
species in six categories – extinct, endangered, vulnerable, rare,
indeterminate, and insufficiently known. This red data therefore alerts
us to our threatened environment. And so, the ‘red data’ part of the
title is significant. It signals danger, destruction and death. Red
symbolically and traditionally evokes these things visually. And red
evokes the complimentary colour- green. There is a visual dynamic, an
optical fight or accommodation of extremes, and a symbolic life/death
dialogue between ‘red data’ and ‘green issues’.
The ‘AND etc’. part of the title is also important. ‘And’ connects. It
promotes inclusively, joins new knowledge with old, adds new meanings to
clusters of ideas. Within the arena of art, ‘and’ also proposes the
reconciliation of opposites, asking that we speculate about and deal
with the co-existence of beauty and ugliness, life and death, etc. And
there is always something else – an ‘etcetera’, as yet unnamed.
This connectedness explains the artists combined use of botanical images
and words. For the artist, the core issue of her subject matter is that
plant imagery is not sentimental, superficial or innocent of significant
meaning, but is impregnated with terrible implications for our
survival. It relates to nutrition, medicine, shelter; it speaks of
landscape and climatic change, and the human capacity to interfere.
The use of words in these works, reveals the artists interest in both
images and words, as she believes the relation of language to painting
is an infinite one, as art generates discussion. Also by inserting words
she questions which medium of communication has power over the other,
and attempts to have them coexist.
End
Press Release Wednesday, February 17, 1999
Standard Bank hosts World Press Photo 1999&
World Press Photo Retrospective
A collection of the world’s best press photographs can be seen in the
Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, from 19 May to 12 June 1999.
Running concurrently will be the World Press Photo Retrospective
exhibition, which consists of the past 56 years of the winning World
Press Photo of the Year photographs.
This is the ninth consecutive year that Standard Bank has hosted World
Press Photo, which attracts thousands of entries annually from leading
photojournalists.
World Press Photo, now in its 42nd year, is regarded as the most
prominent annual international press photography competition.
Selections are made by an independent international jury.
The exhibition presents an overview of the year’s news as published in
newspapers and magazines all over the world as well as unpublished
material shown for the first time. Alongside headline news, current
affairs and daily life, diverse aspects of photojournalism are reflected
in the categories Sports, the Arts and Science & Technology. Prizes in
the 18 competition categories were won by photographers from 22
countries.
This year’s contest attracted 36 836 entries from 3 733 photographers
from 116 countries. Thys Dullart, Themba Hadebe, Jodi Bieber and Gideon
Mendel were the four South African photographers to win acclaim.
Dullart won second prize in the Daily Life Stories category for his
picture Thari Cinema. Hadebe won third prize in the Spot News Singles
category for his picture Man points gun at a Street Robber. Bieber won
first prize in the Portraits Stories category (People of Eksteenfontein)
and second prize in the Sports Stories category (Rugby school for
underprivileged children). Mendel won second prize in the Arts Singles
category (Circus skills workshop for the Millennium show).
World Press Photo of the year went to Dayna Smith of the Washington
Post, USA. Her black and white picture taken near Izbica, Kosovo, in
November 1998, depicts a young woman in shock at the funeral of a KLA
commander. The photograph also won the People in the News Singles
category.
For the third time Standard Bank will also sponsor the annual exhibition
at the William Fehr Collection at The Castle in Cape Town from 20 July
to 9 August 1999. The annual exhibition will then be shown for the
first time in Durban at the Durban Art Gallery from 18 August to 12
September 1999.
The World Press Photo Foundation is worldwide sponsored by Canon, KLM
Royal Dutch Airlines and Kodak Professional. Further information is
available on www.worldpressphoto.nl
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Second Annual Business Day/BASA Awards Nominee
Arts & Culture Trust of the President Award 1998
Electronic Media of the Year
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