Arts explore liberation

Art as a means of liberation is the theme of an exhibition at Museum Africa, in which notions of identity and heritage are interrogated.
FORMER art students of the Funda Community Centre in Diepkloof, Soweto have combined their efforts to explore issues of identity and heritage in the Liberation of Mind, Body and Soul exhibition at Museum Africa.

The exhibition examine issues of identity, culture and heritageThe exhibition examines issues of identity, culture and heritageThe exhibition runs until 26 February. The curator of exhibitions at the museum, Zola Mtshiza, explains: “The exhibition is to cultivate to our community the conceptual dynamics of liberating our minds, body and souls.

“The exhibitors are therefore committed to educating the youth and veterans by evoking their conscious minds, thus reminding them about their historical self-worth as informed by issues of identity, culture and heritage.”

Individual journeys of the artists have been documented in an attempt to renew the early principles that make up South Africa’s history and traditions. The driving force behind the exhibition is, therefore, to nurture the potential of the youth so that it can develop in years to come and create a platform to open up channels of communication between the past and the present.

“The exhibition at Museum Africa is intended to benefit the public, the museum and artists by providing a platform of communication and expression. This will help open a window to the journey of artists in propagating awareness that will be rooted in social issues,” he says.

In addition, it aims to help bring artists and their audiences closer together. “It will open up new frontiers of viewer relations and distribution of knowledge to the community of all age groups.”

In order to achieve this, Mtshiza says various schools are invited to the museum for guided tours and presentations to help the youth better understand the role of art as a means of liberation.

“The concept underpinning the artists’ themes are chain-linked to universal dynamics relevant to period[s] that have affected our human nature/existence,” he adds.

Liberation of the Mind, Body and Soul has been on show at Museum Africa since 24 November and is one of its short-term contemporary exhibitions. Museum Africa is located at 121 Bree Street in Newtown. It is open from Tuesdays to Sundays, from 9am to 5pm; parking for the museum is at Mary Fitzgerald Square.