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MBABANE – The recent political unrest and calls for change movement will be portrayed in an art exhibition in South Africa tomorrow.
Eswatini contemporary artists have been invited to South Africa to display art pieces which portray the political unrest and pro-democracy movement in the country.
The art exhibition will be hosted by The Forge in Braamfontein, Johannesburg starting tomorrow at 6pm.
According to Ryan Honeyball, the Design and Technical Coordinator, the exhibition called ‘Eswatini: Protest and Hope’, is an exhibition highlighting the importance of art in expressing desires for change in the world, specifically work by artists who support the movement for democracy in Eswatini.
“Artistic expression seems to be one of the few remaining outlets for critique in the country and as such, it is important for internationalist or pan-African spaces like The Forge to help highlight the work of these artists,” said Honeyball when contacted yesterday.
The Forge is a multi-use cultural space, offering facilities to organisers, artists and cultural practitioners. It is also a pan-African, progressive and Left organisation.
The emaSwati artists who will be featured during the art exhibition include Khulekani Msweli, Tutu Mkhabela, Phindile Mamba, Fela Dlamini and Sam Thwala. In an interview yesterday, Msweli said he was elated to be one of the selected artists to be invited to display his artwork at The Forge.
“I think the artists were selected looking at works of art in terms of those with a message. Artworks which will be highlighting the atrocities that we have witnessed in recent times in the country and mainly bringing more focus to what happened last year in late June,” he said.
Msweli further highlighted that the political unrest the country had witnessed would be the focus point of some of the art pieces on display. However, he mentioned that some of the works that would be featured would not necessarily be a reflection only of the political issues or protests that happened in June last year.
“My art pieces, which will be demonstrated from my collection of work, for instance, are works which I have created over the years which highlight some of the hardships and injustice I have witnessed emaSwati go through over the years,” he said. “My work particularly covers many years, so it will be interesting to note that the artworks which will be on display aren’t only works seemingly showing as if Eswatini only developed sociopolitical issues last year,” said Msweli.
“The works will be a mixture of sculptures, photography and paintings,” he said.
Clarified
Msweli further clarified that this exhibition was not affiliated with any political formation in Eswatini.
“It is independent in terms of us as artists honouring an invitation by an art gallery in South Africa, which wanted to focus on artworks which demonstrated resistance and protests in Eswatini,” said Msweli.
Recently, through their website, the American Library Hub that collects historical political pictures announced that they were now going to newly-introduce Mandisi Khoza’s picture - the man who was pictured at Msunduza holding a bucket with a tear gas canister inside trying to diffuse it with water - in their Hub library and also put it up for auction.