POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS (2025) CALL FOR APPLICATIONS National Research Foundation Programme in Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa Fine Art Department, Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa

Arts of Africa and Global Souths call for PhD/MA/Honours Bursary Applicants in Art History for 2024

A call for Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022

Special Issue of African Arts on BLAXTARLINES

Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti In conversation with Wynona Mutisi: printmaker, graphic designer, illustrator

Tasmin Randall featured in the annual series by Between 10and5 called Grad Guide. Between 1oand5 profiled some of South Africa’s most exciting creative graduates across the fields of fashion, art, photography and design.

A call for Postdoctoral Research Fellowship 2021

Associate Artist, Moffat Takadiwa sold his artwork to international rap guru, Jay Z.

The Chinese in Africa/Africans in China (CA/AC) Research Network, Guangdong Times Museum, and Arts of Africa & Global Souths Research Program at Rhodes University, South Africa invite African and Chinese artists to participate in a workshop for Global Souths artists at the 6th Conference of the CA/AC that will be held at Lingnan University, Hong Kong from 9 to 11 July 2020.

The Department of Creative Arts at the University of Lagos, Nigeria and the Arts of Africa and the Global Souths research programme at Rhodes University, South Africa hosted an eight-day publishing workshop at the Institute of African and Diaspora Studies (IADS), JP Clark Centre in Lagos, Nigeria from 1 - 8 November 2019.

Chirema Chine Mazano Chinotamba Chakazendama Madziro, MFA Exhibition by Wallen Mapondera

The Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos, Nigeria in collaboration with the Arts of Africa and the Global Souths Research Programme at Rhodes University, South Africa, will host a Publishing Workshop at the University of Lagos from Monday, November 4 to Friday, November 8, 2019.

Suitable candidates are invited to apply for a Postdoctoral Fellowship hosted by the National Research Foundation SARChI Chair in Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa at Rhodes University, South Africa. The successful Postdoctoral Fellow will be an active participant in the Arts of Africa and Global Souths research programme, which comprises Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa (NRF/DST) and Publishing and Research of the South: Positioning Africa (Mellon). The programme is based in the Fine Art Department at Rhodes University.

You are warmly invited to the presentation “This is Not Funny: Comicality and the Depiction of Terror in Nigeria” by Dr. Ganiyu Akinloye Jimoh, also known as JIMGA (cartoon signature). Lecturer, Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos, Nigeria, Rhodes University Research Associate and NRF Postdoctoral Fellow with the SARChI programme "Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa", Department of Fine Art

You are warmly invited to attend an Open Studio with RAW Artist in Residence, Kresiah Mukwazhi, to view her new work, “Although I am young, I am the mother of this house”. This is an opportunity to engage directly with the artist, and to learn about her work and her process.15 August 2019 @ 12:00 noon

Icilengwa Lesa: Transcendence Through Flight, MFA Exhibition by Aaron Samuel Mulenga, 10 August 2019, Nun's Chapel, Rhodes Campus

The Department of Creative Arts at the University of Lagos, Nigeria and the Arts of Africa and the Global Souths research programme at Rhodes University, South Africa will host a eight day publishing workshop in Lagos, Nigeria from 1 - 8 November 2019.

Join the Arts of Africa and Global Souths research team at the 2019 NATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL for a three-day programme of live art and art conversations.

Thania Petersen solo exhibition in three parts at the 2019 NATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL,Makhanda, South Africa BETWEEN LAND AND A RAISED FOOT

The Mellon 30th anniversary seminar programme “Southern Epistemologies: Thinking Beyond the Abyss for a Transformative Curriculum” and the Arts of Africa and Global Souths research programme warmly invite you to Five Bhobh Conversations with Zeitz MOCAA Curator Tandazani Dhlakama and Artist Richard Mudariki, Thursday 23 May 2019

A new and exciting issue of the African Arts journal is out, featuring Stacey Gillian Abe's photograph on the front cover. Congratulations to everyone involved! Part of this issue grew out of the Kampala publishing workshop, which was a collaboration between Rhodes University and Makerere University.

The Inter-Regional Conference/Workshop was organized by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) for the Doctoral students of the universities in the Eastern and Western Capes of South Africa.

Exactly one year after the Inaugural exhibition of the Raw Gallery at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, Layiwola returns with another solo exhibition titled, Indigo Reimagined. This exhibition revisits the indigenous clothing tradition of dyed fabrics known as adire in south-western Nigeria.

ArtoP, is a United Kingdom, Art and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project which investigates the articulations of political discourse in Nigeria through still and moving images in the visual arts by utilising the 2019 national elections as the field of study.

Dr Amanda (Rhodes University Senior Research Associate) received a Maya Angelou Award from Native Voices International

The Arts of Africa and the Global Souths* research programme invites scholarly writers working in the visual arts to apply for a Writer’s Residency hosted by Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa.

You are warmly invited to the exhibition Black Mountain by Stary Mwaba. Stary Mwaba is a MFA candidate in the Fine Art Department and a member of the Arts of Africa and Global Souths research programme.

The Rhodes University Fine Art Department warmly invites you to Bittersoet, a Master of Fine Art exhibition by Natasha Bezuidenhout.

Bright Ackwerh, a multifaceted young artist based in Accra, Ghana, opened his first solo exhibition at the RAW Spot Gallery in October at Rhodes University.

You are warmly invited to the opening of Bright Ackwerh’s exhibition “Where de cho dey?” curated by Ruth Simbao.

The Residencies for Artists and Writers (RAW) programme warmly invites you to a seminar presentation by Dr Nadine Siegert (Writer in Residence) from the University of Bayreuth, Germany.

Rhodes University student, Philiswa Lila has won this year’s Absa L’Atelier Gerard Sekoto Award. In her second-year of Masters in Art History (forms part of the SARChl research – The Geopolitics of Africa), her research focuses on questioning the role of ritual as a mediums of physicality and spirituality in African contemporary visual arts performance.

Dr Nadine Siegert from the University of Bayreuth, Germany, is visiting Rhodes University as a Writer in Residence with the Residencies for Artists and Writers (RAW) programme.

Suitable candidates are invited to apply for a Postdoctoral Fellowship hosted by the National Research Foundation SARChI Chair in Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa at Rhodes University, South Africa. The successful Postdoctoral Fellow will be an active participant in the Arts of Africa and Global Souths research programme, which comprises Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa (NRF/DST) and Publishing and Research of the South: Positioning Africa (Mellon). The programme is based in the Fine Art Department at Rhodes University.

ARTS OF AFRICA AND GLOBAL SOUTHS comprises the SARChI research programme (Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa) supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) in South Africa, and the Publishing and Research of the South: Positioning Africa (PROSPA) research programme funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

You are warmly invited to the exhibition "framed in colonial lenses" by the Harare-based artist Moffat Takadiwa. Takadiwa was a RAW Fellow in the Arts of Africa and Global Souths research programme in the Fine Art Department from July to August 2018.

Arts Lounge Africa, Grahamstown, South Africa, 30 June 2018 – 4 July 2018. ARTS LOUNGE AFRICA is a platform for live art, conversations with artists, and exhibitions that is activated during the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa. It is organized and hosted by the Arts of Africa and Global Souths research team at Rhodes University.

On the 19th of April 2018, a group of scholars gathered at Wits University in Johannesburg to discuss a proposed African Center for Chinese Studies. The meeting was convened by Professor Philip Harrison, SARChI Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning, and Professor Dilip Menon, Director of the Centre for Indian Studies at Wits University.

The new Arts of Africa and Global Souths Arts Lounge and RAW Spot Gallery opened on 13 June 2018 at Rhodes University.

Emergency Exit, is a solo exhibition by Wallen Mapondera a multi-disciplinary artist who creates work through painting, drawing, sculpture and installation. Mapondera is best known for his complex wall sculptures, which create richly textured abstract surfaces out of textiles and cardboard and as well as for his paintings whereby he interrogates the human-animal relationship as a metaphor for political power within hierarchies.

The Arts of Africa and Global Souths research programme warmly invites you to a special Africa Day collaborative seminar on Friday the 25th of May, presented by our two Residencies for Artists and Writers (RAW) Fellows, Prof Adepeju Layiwola and Dr Patrick Oloko.

Professor Peju Layiwola, Head, Department of Creative Arts, and Dr. Patrick Oloko, a senior lecturer in the Department of English, have been awarded the Rhodes Artist and Writer (RAW) Residency Fellowship Programme for 2018.

ARTS OF AFRICA AND GLOBAL SOUTHS research programme affiliate Andrew Mulenga, is a PhD candidate in the Fine Art Department at Rhodes University, South Africa. He was among emerging and internationally acclaimed art historians, curators, artists, as well as prominent academics who straddle the fields of art and academia, research and criticism that were invited to the launch of the Live Art Network Africa (LANA) at the Institute for Creative Arts (ICA), University of Cape Town (UCT).

Fine Art master’s student Wallen Mapondera is on track in his meteoric rise to international recognition in the art circles.

The Arts of Africa and Global Souths research group warmly invites you to a talk by Dr Eyitayo Ijisakin

The Arts of Africa and Global Souths research programme in the Fine Art Department and the ACLS AHP programme warmly invite you to a talk by Dr Angelo Kakande from Makerere University

Ntaba kaNdoda has long been considered by amaXhosa as a place of sanctuary, a revered place that became a symbol of the former Ciskei.

Rhodes University Fine Art Masters student Gladys Kalichini’s final examination exhibition ‘ChaMoneka: UnCasting Shadows,’ at Albany History Museum, 5 December 2017.

This exhibition explores the erasure of women’s narratives from Zambian history and collective memory.

The Arts of Africa and Global Souths research group in the Fine Art Department, warmly invites you to a seminar presentation by Dr Rose Namubiru Kirumira (Senior Lecturer, Makerere University, Uganda) who is currently a Mellon Writer in Residence in the Fine Art Department.

Suitable candidates are invited to apply for a Postdoctoral Fellowship hosted by the National Research Foundation SARChI Chair in Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa at Rhodes University, South Africa.

ARTS OF AFRICA AND GLOBAL SOUTHS comprises the Publishing and Research of the South: Positioning Africa (PROSPA) research programme funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa SARChI programme supported by the National Research Foundation in South Africa.

The Arts of Africa and Global Souths research team in the Fine Art Department, welcomes Rehema Chachage as a RAW Artist in Residence. Chachage is a mixed media artist based in Dar es Salaam who works predominantly in video, sculptural installation and performance.

From the 4th to the 8th of July 2017, seventeen scholars from Uganda, Nigeria and South Africa met in Kampala to discuss publishing in the field of the visual and performing arts of Africa.

Members of the Arts of Africa and the Global South research team, Stary Mwaba and Ruth Simbao, participated in the symposium “Referencing China and East Asia in Southern African Visual Culture”, which was held at the Goethe Institute in Johannesburg in April.

The Margaret Trowel School of Industrial and Fine Arts at Makerere University, Uganda and the Arts of Africa and the Global South research programme at Rhodes University, South Africa will host a five day publishing workshop in Kampala, Uganda 4-8 July 2017

The Arts of Africa and Global Souths* programme invites artists and scholarly writers working in the visual and performing arts to apply for residencies hosted by the Fine Art Department and the NRF SARChI Chair in Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa at Rhodes University

This year Rhodes University joined the editorial consortium of the journal African Arts, which is published quarterly by UCLA and is distributed by MIT Press. The four consortium partners are UCLA, Rhodes University, the University of Florida and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Suitable candidates are invited to apply for a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship hosted by the Arts of Africa Research Team (AART) linked to the National Research Foundation SARChI Chair in ‘Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa’ at Rhodes University, South Africa.

The SARChI Arts of Africa Research Team (AART) held its first research workshop from the 16th to the 19th of June at the Continuing Education Centre at Rhodes. The workshop was opened by the Deputy Dean of Humanities, Prof Enocent Msindo.

Along with fellow Rhodes University staff members and researchers Professor Heila Lotz- Sitsika and Dr Adrienne Edkins, Professor Ruth Simbao has been awarded a Chair position on the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI).

In 2014 the Visual and Performing Arts of Africa (ViPAA) research group organised a symposium, Blind Spots and Ways of Not Seeing in conjunction with the Residencies for Artists and Writers (RAW—EC) programme founded by Professor Ruth Simbao.

Professor Ruth Simbao, NRF Chair, Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa (Fine Art Department, Rhodes University), invites suitable candidates to apply for postgraduate bursaries for PhD and MA/MFA studies in 2016.

Rhodes has been awarded three more SARChI chairs. The South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) was established in 2006. Minister Pandor has this morning announced the names of the SARChI Chair awardees for 2015, three of whom are from Rhodes: Dr Adrienne Edkins, Prof. Ruth Simbao and Prof. Heila Lotz-Sisitka.

Fine Art alumnus, Gerald Machona, who was a member of the Visual and Performing Arts of Africa (ViPAA) Humanities Focus Area from 2011 to 2013, has been selected to represent South Africa in the prestigious Venice Biennale, which opens on the 9th of May 2015.

One of the most critical geopolitical shifts of the 21st century has been the rise of China as an economic power, and its venture into the Global South — particularly the African continent. Too often, however, the media sensationalises China-Africa relations, simplistically framing China as either Africa’s new curse or as the economic saviour to the continent.

Residencies for Artists and Writers-Eastern Cape (RAWEC) is a new and innovative learning project funded by Lotto and under the leadership of Professor Ruth Simbao in the Fine Art Department.

Rhodes University Fine Art lecturer’s research paper has been named as one of the fifty influential articles published in the humanities and sciences journals under the MIT Press label.

A member of the Visual and Performing Arts of Africa focus area in the Fine Art Department and a Masters student, Rachel Baasch showed an unusual body of work in an even more unusual setting, the tennis court at St Peter’s campus recently. “The Eyes of the Wall and other Short Stories” is an outdoor, site-specific installation

A research team, consisting of ten gifted artists and academics, hosted a cocktail function last week to officially open their new workspace and launch their research focus area. This is a newly formed research endeavor by the Humanities Mellon Focus Area in Visual & Performing Arts of Africa.

Gerald Machona, MFA student in the Fine Art Department and member of the “Visual and Performing Arts of Africa” Mellon Focus Area team led by Professor Ruth Simbao, recently participated in two exhibitions at prestigious galleries: The Goodman Gallery in Cape Town and the Brodie/Stevenson Gallery in Johannesburg.

In an innovative collaboration between the Fine Art and Drama Departments, the new Arts Lounge at 17a Somerset Street is set to be an unmissable experience for those festival-goers who truly appreciate the chance to both view and discuss art in all its myriad forms.

Maurice Mbikayi, a visual and performing artist, was invited by the Rhodes Mellon Focus Area ‘Visual and Performing Arts of Africa’ to perform a work entitled ‘Intersection’, which explores constructions of ‘foreignness’ in relation to place and identity, at the Arts Lounge during the National Arts Festival.

A groundbreaking project by late fine arts lecturer Mark Hipper, writes DAVID MACGREGOR. Patients at an Eastern Cape mental health hospital are reaching for the stars after the work they produced during a pioneering art therapy project became a surprise hit at the National Arts Festival.

The Audacity of Place aims to present a body of relevant research that rigorously theorises issues of place, diaspora, globalisation and so-called authenticity in relation to knowledge production and art creation in Africa.

In an innovative collaboration between the Fine Art and Drama Departments, the new Arts Lounge at 17a Somerset Street is set to be an unmissable experience for those Festival-goers who truly appreciate the chance to both view and discuss art in all its myriad forms.

Several alumni from Rhodes University are among this year’s Mail & Guardian top 200 Young South Africans. Every year, the Mail & Guardian celebrates the most interesting and talented young South Africans under 35, who have shown themselves to be leaders.

John Hlatywayo, who has died at 96, was a great painter, sculptor and mentor. However he is woefully neglected in the art history of Zimbabwe and southern Africa.