Museums and Art, Johannesburg

Museum Africa is located in the Newtown area of Johannesburg, and the building was originally a market (part of the complex is now occupied by the Market Theatre, which is probably the premier venue for plays and 'serious' theatre in Jo'burg).

The building is wonderful, and on the face of it, the combination of great architecture and South Africa's vibrant, turbulent history should be a winner, especially given its proximity to the Newtown precinct: sadly, it fails to deliver on this potential, and is ultimately a disappointing experience.

The museum aims to recreate aspects of Johannesburg's social history, which should make for a rich and fascinating experience. Certainly much of the collection on view (particularly the old photographs) are of a high quality, and should make for exciting exhibits. However, many of the displays are tatty and some are downright amateur. It appears that the curator has been asked to work with limited financial and skills resources, and visitors used to the standard of museums in Europe and North America are likely to be disappointed (this is certainly not the case for the world class Apartheid Museum and Maropeng Centre at the Cradle of Mankind, so I'm not quite sure why Museum Africa isn't of the same standard).

However, my major problem is the attitude of the staff and their apparent reluctance to welcome children. I was brought up in London, where the museums actively welcomed even the youngest of children and made sure that the displays were kiddy proof - as a result, I have a lifelong passion for museums and consider them to be an invaluable resource in developing a culture of learning from a very early age. I took my children (aged 5 and 2) to Museum Africa last year, and we felt as though we were being treated as vermin virtually from the moment that we arrived. Whilst I can understand their concern that the children might break the exhibits, my question is why have the exhibits not been constructed in a childproof manner to start with? Surely attracting children is a core function of museums (particularly museums with a social focus)?

Sadly, on this basis, I cannot recommend Museum Africa as a worthwhile experience, and, if you have children, well, you have been warned!

The Origins Centre is a fairly new museum on the campus of the University of the Witwatersrand (more commonly known as 'Wits') in Braamfontein on the northern edge of the CBD.

It is best viewed as a 'sister' museum to the Maropeng Centre at the Cradle of Humankind - taking up the story where Maropeng leaves off - and fills a long standing gap in addressing the prehistory of a region that plays a pivotal role in understanding the development of our recent ancestors (200,000ya onwards).

It is a beautifully designed facility, and there has apparently been no expense spared in creating a world class exhibition space. There is excellent use of audio visual material and it's a very tranquil space despite its proximity to the bustling, chaotic CBD - there is also a reasonably good cafe.

This is essentially an ethnographic museum, with an emphasis on rock art and other artifacts. It is a very 'grown up' museum, and my experience with a small child (3 at the time) was that she quickly got bored because many of the exhibits are fairly cryptic (eg. scratchings on rock fragments) and there is relatively little 'dramatic' material to hold a little one's attention. Many of the displays are quite 'wordy' and either the concepts being explained are extremely complex or too little effort has been made to translate the academic text into a form that is accessible to the interested 'layman'. I must confess that although I love museums and consider myself a moderately sophisticated and well informed 'museum goer', I found this one quite hard work.

Sensitive visitors may find the video of San (Bushmen) hunting an eland to be disturbing.

If you have a choice of visiting one museum to understand South Africa's stunning hominid history, I would suggest that Maropeng is a better choice. If you have a particular interest in things ethnographic, then this one is definitely for you, and you could happily spend a morning or an afternoon here!

Whilst you are on campus, don't miss the small and virtually unknown James Kitching museum of mammal-like reptiles in the Bernard Price Institute of Paleontology (see my review elsewhere), which is motheaten but fascinating and documents an evolutionary cul de sac that is virtually overlooked.

Although the Centre is on the university campus, access is not particularly problematic (though you will have to pass through security on Yale Road). However, be warned that parking on campus is horrendous during term time (check the website www.wits.ac.za to find out when this is), so over these periods, try to go in the afternoon when there are fewer lectures and parking is less problematic.

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The outstanding Workers' Museum was opened in early 2010 and documents the tragic history of South Africa's migrant labour workforce: a defining characteristic of South African social history that has hitherto been largely overlooked by existing museums.

It would not be overstating the case to say that South Africa's economy was built on the back of migrant labour - both from the rural areas and from neighbouring countries. Initially the labour was employed by the mining industry, but later by the manufacturing, agriculture and service sectors and by the second half of the 20th century, migrant labour (particularly from countries such as Mozambique and Malawi) was favoured over South African labour as it was easier to control and less likely to establish organised labour structures that would undermine the apartheid social order. Men working away from their families were housed under conditions that were at best cramped and inhospitable conditions, and which were often subject to draconian discipline (depending on the personality and sobriety of the compound overseer). The dehumanised, micromanaged nature of the hostel regime is emphasised by a whole series of bizarre rules on acceptable conduct which are displayed in one of the dormitories, the strangest of which stipulates that natives must not vomit anywhere other than in areas designated for the purpose.

South African society - both in towns and the rural areas - has paid (and, indeed, continues to pay) a high price for the social dislocation resulting from the migrant worker system, which undermined both family and traditional tribal structures in villages and cities alike. The migrant workers ultimately mobilised to create South Africa's first organised labour movements, which grew into the present day trade union movement (part of the tripartheid alliance between the ANC, Communist Party and unions that governs South Africa today).

The museum is housed in an old migrant labour hostel compound whose redesign and renovation has been overseen by the local architect Henry Paine. Henry is a man that is passionate about preserving Johannesburg's historic buildings (during my career break in academia when my children were small, I used to use him as a guest lecturer to present on application of cultural heritage legislation), and what he has achieved in converting a structure with such a depressing history into an informative and accessible public space is extraordinary. Henry is a gifted communicator, and for those who are interested, he sometimes guides walks organised by the Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Society (see my travel tip).

Museums which document such traumatic aspects of social history often struggle to avoid resorting to political rhetoric. Here - as with the extraordinary Apartheid Museum - the designers have managed to present an admirably balanced perspective, that neither downplays the grim reality of the subject matter nor trivialises this misguided labour practice by resorting to sensationalism. There is an excellent balance between written display material and photos, but perhaps the most powerful aspect of the museum is the decision to leave areas like the dormitories and ablution block largely empty of posters or exhibits. This allows you to use your imagination to envisage how these stark, overcrowded, inhospitable spaces must have functioned when they housed literally hundreds of men separated from their homes and loved ones.

The museum is small, and it will probably only take you an hour to do it justice. And as befits a Workers' Museum, entrance is free!

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Described as a “rustic philosopher with decidedly quirky religious views”, Jackson Hlungwani is one of South Africa's important sculptors.

The Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) has a small exhibition room permanently dedicated to the work of Jackson Mbhazima Hlungwani (1923-2010). It has recently been upgraded and specialist repairs and treatments made to some of the sculptures. Site-specific landscape wallpaper of a place near Hlungwani's home in Mbhokota has been added to contextualise how The Altar of God (1987-1989) would have looked while it was outdoors in the area where Hlungwani lived and worked. The statues have been placed on bases for better display, viewing and conservation.

There is now an educational board on one of the walls in this room. The Gallery shop also sells a Jackson Hlungwani resource book by Lesley Spiro in 1993 Cohen for high school pupils at R10. This book is useful for adult visitors to the Jackson Hlungwani Room as well. Hlungwani died in 2010 at the age of 87, so the biographical detail is dated and incomplete, but it gives an inkling of Hlungwani's life.

It commences with a photograph of Jackson Hlungwani working at a carving at his home in Mbhokota. The biographical section is written in simple English and reads as follows:

“Jackson Hlungwani was born in Nkanyani, Gazankulu, in the northern Transvaal. The exact date is not recorded, but Hlungwani thinks it was about 1923.

As a child, while herding cattle with his brothers, he looked carefully at the animals, birds and fish around him. He did not go to school, but his father, Mundunwazi, taught him to carve household objects, to sharpen tools and to work with iron.

Hlungwani began working for a tea and coffee merchant in Johannesburg in 1941. When he lost a finger in an industrial accident, he was retrenched and returned to Gazankulu. He then worked in Pietersburg for a few years. In 1946 he was ordained into the African Zionist Church. He founded his own church “Yesu Galeliya One Aposto in Sayoni Alt and Omega”.

Since that time, Hlungwani has lived in Mbhokota, a rural village near Elim in north-westen Gazankulu. There is a very rich sculptural tradition in this area. Hlungwani spent thirty years adding to stone structures on the top of a very steep hill near his home. He made large wooden sculptures of people from the bible, animals and fish that he put on and between the stone walls. Here he taught his followers and helped the sick. He called the site New Jerusalem.

Hlungwani says that one night, in about 1978, the devil shot an arrow through his legs. He managed to shake off one of the arrows, but the other one stayed inside his leg. The next morning there were pus and blood-filled sores on his legs. He says he smelled like death and couldn't stand it any more, so he decided to kill himself. But before he could, Jesus appeared to him and said three things: he would be healed and would not dies; he must serve God for his whole life; he would see God. He says Jesus also taught him how to heal with fire. Even today, he burns his own leg with fire, which he says eases the pain. Although he had been carving for many years, it was around this time that he began carving a great deal and produced many sculptures. Most of the sculptures were remoed from New Jerusalem for a retrospective exhibition held in Johannesburg in 1989. By the beginning of 1993, though the stone structures remained, there were no sculptures left at New Jerusalem. They had all been taken to galleries or sold.

While the retrospective exhibition was being organised, Hlungwani says God told him to return and rebuild the site of his father's village. He calls this site New Canaan. He has not made much progress on this site.

Hlungwani refers to New Jerusalem as the Men's Church and New Canaan as the Women's Church. Hlungwani is Tsonga-speaking and many of his ideas and images combine elements from Tsonga and Christian traditions.”

The resource book gives photographs of the works of art in the Jackson Hlungwani Room and poses questions for pupils to answer.

“The Large Crucifix and Star (1992)”, “Tiger Fish III (1987-89)”, “Adam and the birth of Eve (1985-89)” and “The Altar of God” are still on display together with two new works “Daniel (1992)” and “Crucifix (ca 1972)”. There are two other works to which the book refers that are no longer on permanent display “Michael Star” and “God and Christ”.

Pupils are encouraged to draw the sculptures, think about the contexts in which the works were created, to consider the interpretation of the works in terms of what the artist had to say about the works, to look at methods of display, to build art specific vocabulary, and to reflect on value and conservation.

The words in the glossary are: Altar, artist's agent, bibliography, biographical information, bronze, c, commission, contemporary art, conservation, donor, gallery, humidity, in situ, installation, label, museums, permanent collection, retrospective, and sculpture.

I found the book to be a useful addition to the information in the Jackson Hlungwani Room itself and would encourage people to purchase it and then to spend an hour or so absorbing the art in this room at the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

The labels include information about the wood for the Tiger Fish III sculpture which is made from Nkonono wood (Silver clusterleaf – Terminalia sericea) and for the Adam and the Birth of Eve sculpture which is made of Ntona wood (Jackalberry).

There are guides who are able to assist with any queries and/or additional information you may have.

The Johannesburg Art Gallery is situated in King George Street, between Wolmarans and Noord Streets, Joubert Park. Entrance is free. The gallery is open from 10h00 to 17h00 Tuesdays to Sundays. Secure parking is available. There is always an exhibition of some kind available, usually different ones upstairs and downstairs, as well as permanent exhibitions. There is a research library and appointments can be made to view specific works held in the JAG's collection of over 10 000 pieces. The Gallery conducts regular free art classes for local children. There is a small restaurant upstairs. For more information contact 011 725 3130.

The ubiquitous African power symbol, the AK-47, is one of the subjects in this art exhibition.

Michael MacGarry is the Standard Bank Young Artist (Visual Art) for 2011. He is known to me because of his work with the Avant Car Guard, a Johannesburg-based, three-member visual art collective, exhibiting and authoring as a singular artist. They are Zander Blom, Jan-Henri Booyens and Michael MacGarry, all individual artists in their own right.

“End Game” is a solo exhibition currently being exhibited at the Standard Bank Galler from 26 October to 3 December 2011.

Michael MacGarry says: 'My work investigates the ongoing ramifications of imperialism on the African continent, coupled with the analysis and parody of the socio-political and economic role of political elites within this context as well as the increasingly complicated dynamics attendant on the extraction of natural resources – particularly oil – in African nation-states post-independence.' Hmm. In simpler words, a look at African leaders and the use/abuse of power, position and resources that almost inevitably follows their election or self appointment to the position.

The exhibition features short films, sculptures and an installation. I realise that it is not the function of an artist to necessarily produce work which I, specifically, like, but I found the films mostly incomprehensible and/or meaningless to me in the format in which they were displayed. The static stuff was much more accessible to me.

One of the works is a depiction of an AK-47 titled “Fetish” . The catalogue provides a comprehensive discussion of this work. “The AK47 stands for Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947, designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov while wounded in hospital during World War II. Capable of firing up to 600 rounds a minute, this incredibly reliable weapon has been produced in greater numbers than any other 20th Century assault rifle, with an estimated 70-100 million units currently being used around the world. The average cost of an AK-47 in many African countries is around $30, and it is in this context that it has had its most insidious and destructive presence. It is difficult not to find rural peoples of central, northern and southern African regions not in possession of AK-47 rifles. As a fetish object, form of currency, power symbol and instrument of both aggression and self-determination, the AK-47 has become synonymous with the African continent. Without mechanised infantry, tank support or air power, the problem with regional conflicts, civil wars and criminal activities rife throughout Africa, is that these wars, skirmishes and killings continue for decades without resolve. This is the end-user scenario of the small arms trade, an industry that annually sells 8 million guns, adding to the estimated 650 million light arms already in global circulation. It is estimated that 60 per cent of small arms in the world are currently in civilian hands. Behind this deluge of munitions are the world's richest nations. From manufacturers, the guns are sold to governments and exporters, and on to warlords and rebel armies – ultimately reaching the rural poor, who own these weapons simply because everyone else does. “

“Nkondi or Nkonde nail fetish, primarily from the Congo, are protective figurative sculptures used by individuals, families, or whole communities to destroy or weaken evil spirits, prevent or cure illnesses, repel bad deeds, solemnize contracts or oath-taking, and decide arguments. A diviner or holy person would activate the statue, using magical substances. Fetishes gained power and were effective, principally because people believed in them. With the process of activating these objects being provoked by having gunpowder exploded in front of them, and by hammering nails into them. They were also used to literally “hammer out” agreements, with clear implications as to what would happen to people who broke said agreements. The practice is said to have been introduced indirectly by the Portuguese as early as the end of the fifteenth century, through the diffusion of crucifixes in area of what is today the Democratic Republic of Congo. The theme of lower Congo fetishes has been studied by all Congolese art specialists, whereby a figurine was ordered from a particular sculptor, who left its completion to the fetish priest, or Nganga; the latter made the carving active by placing magical materials in one or more receptacles made by the sculptor. Sometimes the Nganga ignored the carver's provisions for these materials and thus altered the morphology of the object. In the case of a Nkonde fetish, a further alteration is effected by the introduction of nails and blades. The sculpture is thus an assemblage of different materials, put together by different people. “

“The inherent binary logic of marrying the devastating legacy of the AK-47 to the spiritual, social and ideological role of the traditional Nkonde fetish object intends to comment on the degree to which violence, corruption and civil destruction are now an intrinsically institutional pandemic on the African continent, to the extent that this has diseased even its spiritual character.”

This was very thought provoking … and not just a little frightening.

The catalogue to “End Game” is published by “All theory, no practice”.

“End Game” by Michael MacGarry will be exhibited at The Standard Bank Gallery, Simmonds Street, Johannesburg until 3 December 2011 . Telephone 011 631 4467. There is safe underground parking by arrangement.

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“Pinky Promise” is Pierre Crocquet de Rosemond's latest exhibition. Pierre Crocquet, as he is known, is a South African, Cape Town based photographer who has been working on a project documenting childhood sexual abuse. The photographs and documents which make up this work can be seen downstairs at the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

Crocquet tells the stories of five victims and three perpetrators. As only seven stories are told, it becomes clear that at least one perpetrator was also a victim. It is not an academic study, but a reaching into the fragmented, wounded nature of the abusers and the abused, moving towards understanding and awarness. Crocquet met all of the people included in “Pinky Promise” —Sid, Adam, Hayley, Jen, James, Bob, Chloe, and Justin (Justin is the only one using his real name, and they all expressed their willingness to tell their stories and to make available to him material that might help him to understand the effects and nature of abuse. With their permission, Crocquet has included some of this material—diary entries and other personal documents, affidavits, drawings made in therapy, and photographs from family albums—in the exhibition alongside his own black-and-white portraits.

The exhibition gets its title from one of the pictures, a young girl, Hayley, demonstrating the pinky promises, for one of the stories.

"A pinky promise is like when you’re talking to your friend, and you say, please tell me this and this and this and I pinky promise I won’t tell anyone. It’s like a big promise, like you promise, promise, promise and you won’t ever break it. You just say pinky promise and then your friend wraps their pinky around yours. So my dad wrapped his pinky around mine and I didn’t tell anyone.
Hayley"

One of the photographs is a picture of Hayley demonstrating the pinky promise and it tears my heart out.

Another of the pictures shows the rows and rows of kits that are handed out to victims of sexual abuse, made up of gender and age appropriate gifts. I peep into the one on display which is for a teenage girl. Two pairs of new panties, soap and deodorant are amongst the items. Crocquet points out that for some of the victims this kit will mark the first time these girls have had new underwear. He says it softly, gently, for he knows that most of the people who will view his exhibition will never have worn second hand underwear. I felt sad that such a thing ever needed to be said.

Crocquet collected the material over three years from various non-governmental organisations and from the Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit. A project of this nature would have been impossible without professional guidance. Crocquet has sought legal, ethical, and practical advice from many organisations and people working in the sphere of child abuse. His work with victims has been conducted under the strict supervision of their therapists, and the work with offenders under the guidance of a professional who has run programmes for offenders for many years. All the required consent, parental permission, and children assent forms have been obtained for all content in Pinky Promise and each participant has reviewed and approved how their story has been presented.

As we approach the start of the annual sixteen days awareness programme concerning violence against women which ends on World Aids Day, we note that the statistics on child sexual abuse in South Africa are truly alarming.

“Pinky Promise” seeks to understand without sacrificing robust criticism of sexual offences. It also hopes to tell a small part of the story of abuse in South Africa, to raise awareness about the prevalence of the problem, and to give a voice to some among the thousands who have suffered lasting trauma as a result of abuse.

The “Pinky Promise” photographic exhibition is on at the Johannesburg Art Gallery until the end of January, 2012. The Johannesburg Art Gallery is at the northern end of Joubert Park, with its entrance in King George Street, Joubert Park. There is plenty of safe parking inside the gates surrounding the gallery. Several artist's walkabouts have been organised for this exhibition and, having experienced one, I can recommend it highly. There are also tour guides to assist if you cannot participate in one of the artist's walkabouts. Telephone 011 725 3130 for more information.

Out of town visitors are urged NOT to walk in the area of the gallery and to either drive or take a meter taxi to the gallery.

Housed in an attractive building on the north side of the Newtown Cultural Precinct, MuseuMAfrica has definitely seen better days, and quite a few of them. Many of the exhibits are charmingly 'home-made' but the downside of this personal and homely approach is that the interpretation can be (and is, here) confusing. Furthermore, home-made panels and displays have a habit of getting broken very easily.

MuseuMAfrica should be the showcase heritage and visitor centre for Johannesburg, but I suspect that many of its treasures have been plundered for use in a variety of new thematic museums such as the Apartheid Museum, the Origins Centre and for Constitution Hill.

The museum has some significant displays and exhibitions, but unfortunately the palaeoanthropology disaply isn't one of them (go to the Origins Centre at Wits instead).
The exhibition on the 1956 trials of dissidents (including much of the ANC hierarchy) is fascinating, but more for the mass of newspaper coverage plastered to the walls. It all feels very unstructured and surely deserves better treatment than this.

Similarly, the photographic exhibition on Johannesburg's history, including many photographs by Peter Mangubane, is in an open hall with poor lighting.

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Johannesburg is proud of its commitment to placing public art around the city. One of these works is a 20 ton, 5.5 metre Eland on the corner of Bertha and Ameshoff streets in Braamfontein on the south eastern side of Wits University. This statue is by artist Clive van den Berg.

The (real) eland is the biggest of all the South African antelope and is very often portrayed in San art. The San people are known as “People of the Eland” and the animal has strong significance for them.

The pictures of this artwork have been lifted from the www.joburg.org.za website where one can find out more about public art in Johannesburg. The website has a policy that one may use their pictures if one acknowledges them.