Showcasing talent born of experience
THE inaugural USIBA Creative and Cultural Industries Awards took place last week at Emperors Palace, Johannesburg, and was launched in partnership with the Creative and Cultural Industries Federation of South Africa, by the Minister of Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthetwa, and is seen as the highest accolade in the cultural and creative industry.
The award was received by Durban art curator Carol Brown, who last year was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in Arts and Culture from CEO Global Arts and Culture.
The art community first knew Brown as director of the Durban Art Gallery from 1995 to 2006, but since starting her own business Curate.a.Space, a curatorial consultancy, she has contributed more to promote art and artists in the city, South Africa, and Africa as well as in Europe and the United States.
She was contracted as visual arts expert adviser to the French/ SA Seasons Project, organised the AIDS 2000 Banner which involved 1000 artists and culminated in a 500 metre banner round the City Hall for SA’s first international AIDS Conference.
She chose the art works for the Moses Madiba stadium. Her part in the visual arena of the more recent Essence Festival was undoubtedly the highlight of the visual art component.
Her curatorial partnership with Professor David Gere of the UCLA (University of Los Angeles) continues and together they worked on several international exhibitions that have been seen in SA’s major cities, and at universities in several American states.
In Durban we know Brown as a hard-working and popular figure in Durban’s visual art community, who, through her organisation Create.a.Space, helps the younger artists to create a body of work and set up and prepare for an exhibition.
A perfect example is the exhibition “The Footsteps of the Father” which opened last night (June 7) at the African Art Centre (AAC) in Station Road.
The AAC took the initiative to address the scarcity of skills in exhibition making and brought in Curate.a.Space to run a programme of hands-on experience in getting professional work ready and preparing to set up exhibitions.
This workshop resulted in a practical component, as three exhibitions this year will be curated by the participants who have chosen the themes and will be part of the selection process.
These are practical hands-on workshops where Brown, assisted by Zinhle Khumalo, draws upon her vast experience of curating in different venues and cities.
The theme chosen by the curatorial team of Leevi Matthew, Phindile Mkize and Phakamani Dladla is “Footsteps of the Father”.
This coincides with Youth month, and the complexities and challenges of the father’s role in South Africa will be presented. We live in a society where mothers, caregivers, siblings, institutions and others often have to take the role of the father and fathers also sometimes have to take other roles.
This exciting event showcasing youthful talent is on view now at
the AAC .
For more information contact AAC at 031 312 3804 or Create.a.Space 031 202 3072 or 083 778 1192.