Iconic women of Global South
LECTURE SERIES: EXPLORES LIVES OF THREE ARTISTS
Focus on the cultural and societal roles played by Kahlo, Sher-Gil and Stern.
The 2022 lecture series at the Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation (JCAF) will introduce the artists – Frida Kahlo, Amrita Sher-Gil and Irma Stern – in this year’s exhibition, Modernist Identities in the Global South.
It is the third and last in JCAF’s exhibition trilogy under the theme Female Identities in the Global South.
Each lecture will focus on one of the artists, exploring their lives, as well as the political and cultural context in which they practice.
The lectures will take place in the Forum amphitheatre at JCAF.
This first series of lectures in the Forum focuses on the role of the artists in their cultural contexts and contemporary society.
The name of the lecture series originates from Uruguayan artist and intellectual Joaquín Torres-García’s School of the South.
In line with Torres-García’s intention of creating strong institutions in South America, JCAF’s own School of the South lecture programme will host prominent intellectuals whose research is located within the Global South.
Sonal Khullar will present a lecture titled “Strange Kinships: Amrita SherGil’s Art Across Continents” next Thursday.
Khullar contemplates the controversial language that surrounds Sher-Gil’s practice and situates her art within histories of anti-colonial nationalism, modernist cosmopolitanism and transnational movements. Helena Chávez Mac Gregor’s lecture, “Frida Kahlo: The Invention of an Identity. A Political and Cultural Project of a World to Come” is on Thursday, 9 June. Chávez Mac Gregor explores how Kahlo’s individual, artistic and political identity went hand in hand with the creation of a new socialist national project for modern Mexico. LaNitra M Berger’s lecture on Wednesday, 22 June is titled “When Do Black Lives Matter?: Irma Stern’s Representations of Black Women in the Global South”.
Berger considers Stern’s representations of black women and argues for new ways to contextualise the artist in the 21st century. Limited seating is available for the lectures: booking is essential. Recordings of the lectures will be screened in the week following each lecture.