Personal Affects: Power and Poetics in Contemporary South African Art
February 24-May 7, 2006
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu
2411 Makiki Heights Drive
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
For Further Information
PR Contact: Pualana Lemelle
Tel: (808) 237-5235
Fax: (808) 536-5973
Email: plemelle@tcmhi.org
main: (808) 526-1322
www.tcmhi.org
Personal Affects: Power and Poetics in Contemporary South African Art features seventeen artists from South Africa working in diverse media, including sculpture, drawing, photography, painting, installation and video. Recalling the past, looking toward the future, and touching upon religion, politics, art, and the poetics of the body, Personal Affects represents work by a new generation of South African artists who, in their personal practices one decade after the end of Apartheid, consider the recent history of social and political struggle however supplant it as the fulcrum of intellectual endeavor with their own expressions of purpose, intention, and individualism.
The Hawaii presentation of Personal Affects: Power and Poetics in Contemporary South African Art reveals the increasingly mutual artistic concerns between art-making practices in Hawaii and places as distant as South Africa. The distinctive cultural hybridity in both Hawaii and South Africa speaks to the dynamics of difference and inclusion in race, socio-economic divisions, language, customs, belief systems, and object/image making, among other things. As other locations in the world become increasingly less marginal to those inside and outside of (mainly Western) socio-economic urban centers, these dynamics become interwoven as one rich, discursive cultural fabric one that is as familiar and spirited in Hawaii as it is in South Africa and which thus tangentially addresses issues of exclusion from the circuit of international contemporary art.
Personal Affects: Power and Poetics in Contemporary South African Art was originally exhibited at the Museum for African Art and The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, September 2004January 2005, as part of Season South Africa to commemorate South Africas first decade of democracy.
Personal Affects includes newly commissioned and recently produced works by some of the most compelling contemporary visual and performing artists from South Africa selected by an international team of curators whom include Laurie Ann Farrell, Curator at the Museum of African Art, David Brodie, Churchill Madikida, Sophie Perryer and Liese van der Watt. Moving beyond the confines of identity politics towards subtler investigations of agency and affect, this exhibition looks at works of art as the powerful and poetic expressions that artists leave behind. Participating artists are Jane Alexander, Wim Botha, Steven Cohen, Churchill Madikida, Mustafa Maluka, Thando Mama, Samson Mudzunga, Jay Pather, Johannes Phokela, Robin Rhode, Claudette Schreuders, Berni Searle, Doreen Southwood, Clive van den Berg, Minnette Vári, Diane Victor and Sandile Zulu.
A comprehensive two volume catalogue will accompany the exhibition, and is available for purchase.
Support
Personal Affects: Power and Poetics in Contemporary South African Art is organized by the Museum for African Art, supported by Spier and previously exhibited at the Museum for African Art and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York as part of Season South Africa. This exhibition is curated by Laurie Ann Farrell, Curator at the Museum for African Art, David Brodie, Churchill Madikida, Sophie Perryer and Liese van der Watt.
The presentation of Personal Affects in Honolulu is organized by TCM Associate Curator Allison Wong, and is made possible by the members and supporters of The Contemporary Museum, and by Spier. Additional support for the exhibitions educational programming provided by the Reverend Takie Okumura Family Fund. In-kind support has been provided by Horizon Lines, LLC and ResortQuest, formerly ASTON Hotels and Resorts.
About The Contemporary Museum
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, is the only museum in the state of Hawaii devoted exclusively to contemporary art. TCM provides an accessible forum for provocative, dynamic forms of visual art, offering interaction with art and artists in a unique Island environment. TCM presents its innovative exhibition and education programs at two venues: in residential Honolulu at the historic Spalding house, and downtown at First Hawaiian Center.
Tuesday through Saturday 10am-4pm, Sunday noon-4pm
Closed Mondays and major holidays
free to the public on the third Thursday of each month.
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