By Andrea Cole
As part of the 2023 National Art Festival’s exhibition programme, In the Eye of the Beholder aims to shine a light on local Eastern Cape artists. The exhibition is curated by Emma O’Brien and Uthando Baduza and generously supplied by The Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Art Museum.
The exhibition showcases a regional yet stylistically assorted art collection ranging from ceramic items and framed paintings (both representational and abstract) to an intricate life-sized person in armour made of wire, and a tapering double-helix wooden structure. ‘The Fighters’ (2006) is a notable piece compiled of two cowhide casts of a woman’s body from chest to abdomen.
The duo of O’Brien and Baduza strongly feel that artworks and artists from the region are under-recognised insofar as their roots to the area are concerned. They aim to generate opportunities in the Eastern Cape and create a hub where people are proud to share their art.
“For us to be taken seriously as an art centre, we need to bring people here,” says Baduza. At its core, the public collection is about remedying a lack of representation and empowering artists,and the art economy. He further states, “The Eastern Cape is not recognised as being from the Eastern Cape”. Take Nicholas Hlobo for example. Who knew his roots were laid in the province?
Over the last 68 years, the prestigious collection has managed to grow into one with over 8000 objects. The combined efforts of O’Brien and Baduza help maintain and advance the legacy of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum. This is coupled with the museum’s capability to tell a story of the rich Eastern Cape and greater South African art scene. “There has been a deliberate effort to get funds to build an acquisition budget,” says Baduza.
The final talk will take place at the Grahamstown Gallery on 28 June.
