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Black Artists/White Labels – a response to the exhibition ‘Black Modernisms’

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The Point of Order, 6 June 2016 at 6.30pm, Braamfontein, Johannesburg

 

The recent three-way public conversation between the staff of the Wits Art Museum, initiated through Lwandile Fikeni’s article ‘Black Modernisms, White Saviours’ published in the City Press on the ‘Black Modernisms’ exhibition currently running at the same Museum, has prompted a series of debates on social media and other art platforms. Much of these debates focused o,, what now seems to be personal accusations, attacks and public slander, moving away from what was initially about larger issues of institutional power, transformation and knowledge production on the works of black modern South African artists.

 

By bringing this panel of experts together, ‘Black Artists, White Labels’ is an attempt to refocus this discussion to issues pertinent to the development of the history of South African black modern art. It asks questions about  the limitations of such forms of representation (the exhibitions) in acknowledging and complicating the values and intellectual contributions of black modern artists in South Africa’s art history.

 

Black Mark: Collective Critical Thought (BMCCT) is a Johannesburg-Based reading and writing group, consisting of Nontobeko Ntombela, Tiffany Mentoor, Dr Same Mdluli, Khwezi Gule and Londiwe Langa. The group was established in 2013 as peer review platform for members to critically engage with each other’s writing and intellectual projects.

City Press: http://city-press.news24.com/Trending/black-modernisms-and-white-saviours-20160427