THE FUTURE’S IN THE BAG
The Bag Factory has been brightening the Joburg arts scene for 30 years
ý It might be hard to fathom amid the mire of weeds that rival the California redwoods, the bottomless potholes and apparent total disengagement from mayor Geoff Makhubo, but there is something to feel positive about in SA’s commercial heartland, Joburg.
This glimmer of hope comes by way of the University of Joburg’s Fada Gallery, where a new exhibition entitled The Bag Factory 30 Years: So Far, the Future has just opened. It’s a show which is not only a cultural highpoint of an otherwise limping city, it’s a celebration of Joburg’s bright patches.
The Bag Factory is an art organisation based in Newtown, near Fordsburg and Mary Fitzgerald
Square, which houses studios, hosts exhibitions and holds art workshops. The art on its walls has clearly drawn inspiration from the fraying streets around it.
Now, after three decades, it has decided to boast a bit about what it has given birth to.
Walking through the gallery door, you are greeted by three vibrant cityscapes of Fordsburg by Kagiso Patrick Mautloa as well as a colourful urban scene by the late David Koloane. Downstairs, a three-dimensional sculpture by Candice Kramer, featuring inner city buildings and iconic Joburg street names, is dramatic and eyecatching.
Art of this calibre is reason enough to visit, but
they really just hint at why this exhibition is so important at this particularly brittle time in the city’s history. It provides a glimpse into the stories of artists who have worked in the city during a period of reinvention covering the transition to democracy, its reincorporation into the global economy and its economic slide.
The roll call of artists who have either done residencies at the Bag Factory or won one of its coveted awards includes a who’s who of contemporary SA art: Penny Siopis; Sam Nhlengethwa; Deborah Bell; current “it” artist Nelson Makamo, whose work was featured on the cover of Time magazine in 2019; and up and comers like DuduBloom More and Sandile Radebe.
A refuge in the 1990s
The idea for the space first emerged in the politically turbulent 1980s during the cultural boycotts. It began with a series of workshops, some taking place in neighbouring countries like Botswana, and was inspired by the Triangle Artists’ Workshop, a programme based in the New York countryside that aims to bring local and international artists together in a community.
In 1991, the factory officially opened its doors thanks to Robert Loder, Sandy Burnett and Koloane, with the involvement of a handful of other up-and-coming artists.
Officially called the Fordsburg Artists Studio, it owes its name to the fact that it was located in an old hessian bag factory.
A driving force of the space was that it was meant to provide a place for artists from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to work. In the beginning, the artists who moved in quickly put up dividing walls to create separate studio spaces.
Current board member Mautloa says of those years: “Many black artists who lived in townships like Alexandra and Soweto had to wait for their families to go to bed so that they would have a space to create art.”
Mautloa says many black artists didn’t have a tertiary education at that point, and the Bag Factory gave them somewhere to work and interact with artists who did.
The model was a resounding success, so much so that it became one of the first studios in Africa to invite international artists for residencies. Here, art became something broader: a catalyst for working together — something a divided nation like SA needed. That initial motif, as a place for discussion and exchange, is still at the heart of the project today.
Mautloa and Bag Factory director Candice Allison say that today, lunchtime at the studio is a time when artists “sit together, chat, share ideas and food”. The artists have exhibited together at various shows including the Turbine Art Fair, Latitudes Art Fair and Cape Town Art Fair.
Allison says it hasn’t been easy to keep going for more than 30 years, especially as a nonprofit without state funding.
“We are a small team and run a tight ship, and very importantly we are financially independent, with funds coming from studio rentals,” she says. “The rest is from art sales and auctions as well as past artists, both established and up-andcoming, being incredibly generous with donating work.”
The studio also works with corporate sponsors and is trying to foster a culture of patronage — a practice more commonly seen on the international art scene than in SA.
Forgotten by the state
The economics of SA’s art industry haven’t been assisted by the fact that money meant to help artists has vanished.
Last month, artists arranged a sitin at the National Arts Council —
ironically situated 1km from the Bag Factory — to protest against the misallocation and mismanagement of R300m from the presidential employment stimulus programme.
With the government AWOL, places like the Bag Factory are having to make their own luck. Thanks to money raised from art auctions, it has finally bought outright the building it is situated in after being a tenant for many years. It is hoped another auction in May will help pay for a new roof.
Later this year, the studio is planning a design competition for up-and-coming architects, who will be encouraged to use its studio space as a canvas and reimagine what the building could be.
As a reminder of just how crucial a role visual arts organisations can play in creating communities — especially during the darkest economic times — it’s well worth a visit. x
The Bag Factory 30 Years: So Far, the
Future runs from May 1-June 19 at the Fada building, 17 Bunting Rd, University of