On 12 December 2020,
the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, will be opening an exhibition in
which youth from across the city have used different artistic mediums to reflected\on their experiences of what life has been like over this past year.
The Nelson Mandela
Metropolitan Art Museum will be open over the festive season 9:00 to 16:00
weekdays, but will close on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
We will request that
all visitors abide by the COVID regulations and wear masks at all times. We are
limiting the number of people in the exhibition venues to ensure social
distancing is maintained and to ensure everyone’s safety in support of national
efforts to prevent the spread of COVID 19.
The exhibition will be
made up of three components:
IMAGING THE VOICE: A
PHOTO AND POEM PROJECT BY HELENVALE POETS
IMAGING THE VOICE is an
exhibition of poems and images created by the HELENVALE POETS. The project was
funded through the Nelson Mandela Bay Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture small
grant programme and combines poetry and photography. Poet, mentor and project
leader, Brian Walter, assisted the group by collating over 100 poems and images
into a poetry book and visual exhibition. The poems reflect the experiences of
19 young people living in Helenvale. The poems describe the impact of the
current COVID pandemic, reflect on life in the Helenvale community and
celebrate the beauty we can still find around us. Contributors, Leonie
Williams, Shenesia Booysen and Charné Williams were team leaders and assisted
the younger members of the group to make the project possible.
The project,
administered by the SADRAT Institute, received additional support from Volkswagen
Community Trust, Dryad Press and members of the community who donated pre-owned
phones or cameras. The Swiss TPH Support Group provided equipment and the
Nelson Mandela University CCT helped with T-Shirts which were printed by
Goshawk Printers. Silke Heiss provided proof-reading and language advice, and
Mike Barwood did design and layout.
SKETCHBOOK:
LIFE IN THE LIFE OF COVID
Over the past six
months, the Friends of the Art Museum in conjunction with the Nelson Mandela
Metropolitan Art Museum sponsored art journals to art groups across Nelson
Mandela Bay. Learners in these groups have used their journals to draw and
reflect on life during the COVID pandemic. In the last month the groups have
visited the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum to produce large scale
sketches.
The four participating
groups are:
HAND IN HAND STUDIO founded
by Sakhumzi Nyendwana and his brother, Mzindsi
as an art gallery and tourists’ attraction in Motherwell township.
ARTWORKS FOR YOUTH based
in the community of Joe Slovo. Artworks for Youth is facilitated by John
Lombardo and provides free visual art instruction, academic support and
mentoring to students in Nelson Mandela Bay.
IZ’KOLI ART was founded
in 2019 by a group of young artists from Red Location, Anele Zephe,
Makhonsandile Molose and Theo Zonke, They aim to uplift local New Brighton
youth through various community projects including creating murals and
organizing street cleanups.
RAW NATIVE KREATIVES
was founded by six young creatives who share a passion for community
development. Mhlehi Hallom is the managing director. The goal of the group is
to help equip township youth with acquiring life skills through art
education.
The Friends of the Art
Museum is a non-profit organisation that has supported the Art Museum for over
40 years. In recent years this organisation has assisted to bring
underprivileged kids to the museum for art workshops. While the Museum is
closed to the public due to COVID, the Friends decided to support local NGO’s
who use art to uplift the lives of kids from our most impoverished communities.
WISHING TREE
An interactive exhibit
where we ask the public to participate. Visitors to the exhibition will be
invited to write on a pieces of paper and add messages of hope to our wishing
tree. |