A fine Eastern Pende Panya-Gombe African mask. Coll.: David Norden
Ifa Lethu
Educators, students, learners and members of the public may use the vast collection of art reference books. Newspaper clippings on Southern African artists and art make the Pretoria Art Museum's Information Centre unique. Mmutle Arthur Kgokong, tel 012 344 1807/8. 012 344 1807/ 8 art.museum@tshwane.gov.za
They found there way to boardrooms and private collections in the US, UK, Australia, Canada and elsewhere. Now, Ifa Lethu - the Homecoming Foundation - is working to bring the artwork back to South Africa. Headed by Dr Mamphela Ramphele, Ifa Lethu already has a substantial collection of township art. This collection is set to grow after the BHP Billiton Development Trust (BBDT) handed over a R1-million contribution to the foundation this morning. 'Men and women of courage' "Works of art are the soul of the people, their history," he said. "Once they are gone, they are gone forever. This project seeks to reclaim the works of unsung people of the townships in the 1970s and 1980s. These were men and women of courage, who worked under the most difficult circumstances."
During her time in the country she built strong links with artists working in the apartheid townships. Her aim was to donate the works back to the country once South Africa had gained its freedom - which it did with the first democratic elections in 1994. Johnstone's donation brought to light the fact that a significant body of similar artwork, produced during the depths of apartheid and of great cultural significance to South Africa, was in foreign collections.
"Our aim is to bring our lost art home, where South Africans can learn from its depictions of township life in the dark days of apartheid," she said. "This art will help in what Madiba so aptly called the reconstruction and development of the soul. Without art like it, we will always be a wounded, scarred nation." The Department of Arts and Culture provided R4.5-million over three years to Ifa Lethu, with the proviso that this be matched by private sector contributions. The R1-million from BHP Billiton is the first major contribution of this kind, making the company a platinum -and a founding - patron. "In business terms, this is what we call a first-entry advantage," joked Maphai.
'People matter, history matters'
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african art | home | african art shop In
this section:
The
Tribal Arts of Africa |
Lost works by artists living in South Africa's strife-torn townships in the
1970s and 1980s are to return home.
Many of the works,
chronicling the turbulence of the last two decades of apartheid and
unappreciated in their own country, were bought by diplomats and others visiting
South Africa.
The
two-year-old Ifa Lethu project began when Australian diplomat Diane Johnstone,
who served in South Africa in the 1970s, donated a historically important
collection of South African art to the foundation.
'Reconstruction
of the soul'
"Works
of art are the soul of the people, their history," said BHP Billiton SA
chair Dr Vincent Maphai (Image: Ifa Lethu)
A
township artist's self portrait, produced in 1975 (Image: Ifa Lethu)"
Prophet
by E Madiba, 1974 (Image: Ifa Lethu)
