The arts are an integral part of South African culture, meshing our past, present and future into a single medium. At the recent Canvas and Community celebration, we got to imagine a South Africa that does better for the art economy.
Cape Town, South Africa (21 October 2024) — Art is an integral part of South African culture. For our country, it’s a story-telling medium that often merges commentary on our socio-political, history, heritage and questions of who we could be as a nation. It’s also how we honour our unique relationship with wildlife and our natural surroundings while visualising the problems these cherished parts of our environment face. And, of course, it’s a means to inject pride into our communities through murals and public art of different mediums. It’s our past, present and future meshed into a single field.
So, if art has such an important role to play across different borders of the South African experience, the question persists: how is South Africa supporting our artists? And, are we doing enough?
Canvas and Community: An Example of an Artistically Inclusive South Africa
Recently, I attended an evening dubbed Canvas and Community as hosted by the Century City Conference Centre, writes GTG’s Ashleigh. It was an evening any art lover would’ve adored; spoiled with excellent music (from a staff member who got to perform opera to the brilliant classical trio The Muses and Cape Town’s ever-talented Jimmy Nevis), secret ‘fashion shows’ and, of course, a lot of local art.
Fadiel Herman’s street-art-infused paintings, Jaret Loggenberg’s powerful portrayals of the female form and Logan Marlon’s designs were all on full display amongst other talents. The spirit of Soweto was ever present thanks to Moeketsi Moahloli’s mixed media works, while Sarah Danes Jarrett’s portraits left mouths agape (and not just on the paintings).
It was thrilling to see so many different art forms sharing a single space outside of a designated gallery, exhibition or traditional arts festival.
I couldn’t ignore the thought that this is how more South African spaces can and should honour the arts to whom we all owe such a big thank you for preserving and pushing our culture forward.
Local Businesses, it’s Time to Step Up.
Because local art is the tangible mix that’s produced once the South African melting pot is poured out, it only makes sense that it should be shared and appreciated in more spaces beyond those traditionally designated for the arts. There are, after all, only so many galleries and so many residencies available. But how do we grow the space?
One way to do this is for more businesses, especially those up the tourism and hospitality alleys, to invest in our local artists. This isn’t just a means for aesthetic value and measure; it’s a gateway for the world to see who we are.
When businesses become platforms for creative development, wonderful things can happen. Just look at the likes of Karabo Poppy, who is a master at merging her art with branding alignments.
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Plug the Art Drain
Just as it is with many students part of South Africa’s ‘brain drain’ dilemma, many of our artists are forced to travel outside of our country in hopes that they’ll get better opportunities. The Free State Art Collective rightly shared that there is a big gap in support for local artists in communities like theirs, while showcases like Alchemy aptly indicated that local artists should be given the chance to claim the spotlight before they go overseas.
The bottom line is that if South Africa wants to boost our art economy, there needs to be a push to carve out spaces for it in other avenues of business. Whether that means from a showcasing and collection curating perspective, creative connection events perspective, brand and partnership efforts, or initiatives that beautify our spaces whilst giving artists a boost.
It matters, as so fashionably highlighted at Canvas and Community, because our culture does. Because we cannot be proudly South African without the arts. And we cannot have a thriving arts economy without South African businesses proudly making room for the patrons of our culture.
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