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9 LINOCUTS (July 2010)
Elza Botha (Miles) Phillemon Hlungwani Sandile Goje
Colbert Mashile Dikgwele Paul Molete Joël Mpah Dooh
Walter Oltmann Motsamai Thabane Diane Victor 3 – 24 July 2010 Opening Saturday 3 July at 14:00 Exhibition brochure available Each linocut is printed in an edition of 10, of which 8 are on paper, 2 on fabric and embroidered by various community groups. The large-scale linocut exhibition at GALLERY AOP, in collaboration with Artist Proof Studio constitutes a turning point in the history of relief printmaking in South Africa. The relief print as medium has often been used in countries to voice political protest as well as religious and social messages. Relief prints have often served as a voice for the marginalized and have been produced on kitchen tables or in under-equipped studios. Editions were often printed intermittently, as and when funds to buy paper and ink became available. In the late-1950s the Polly Street Art Centre training challenged notions of a stereotypical “African aesthetic” foisted on the Black artists who studied at the Centre. The Evangelical Lutheran Art and Craft Centre at Rorke’s Drift had a similar mission with its printmaking courses in the 1960s and 70s. In the 1980s the political voice of the people was strongly articulated in the printmaking that emanated from such diverse art studios and training centres as Funda, the Mofolo Art Centre, the Johannesburg Art Foundation, the Community Arts Project, Graphic Equaliser, Alex Art Centre, and Medu. Printmaking constituted an apt metaphor for the socio-political past of South Africa, a theory best articulated by Phillipa Hobbs and Elizabeth Rankin in their groundbreaking book, Printmaking in a transformative South Africa (1997). Given this illustrious history of printmaking, the question asked in this exhibition of large-scale linocuts is what impression the printmakers today give of contemporary society? Previously, printmakers were considered to be art activists in the struggle. Their art was at the forefront of the Resistance movement in South Africa. The printmaking community has had to define itself anew in recent times, having forged new networks with a range of other communities all over the country. One way in which the Artist Proof Studio has done that was to invite some of the most prominent South African artists and printmakers to cut large-scale lino-blocks, printing eight of the editions of ten on paper, offering two of the edition to act as cartoons for printing on cloth in order to embroider on large-scale as well. Participating artists in the linocut project are Elza Botha (Miles), Sandile Goje, Phillemon Hlungwani, Motsamai Thabane, Colbert Mashile, Dikgwele Paul Molete, Joël Mpah Dooh, Walter Oltmann, and Diane Victor. Community organisations taking part in the embroidery/beading of the prints on fabric are the Kosikona Project, the Umcebo Trust, the Hillcrest AIDS Centre (WOZA MOYA), the Jah Azania group, the Ikageng Project and the Chivirika Project. Tamar Mason and Bronwen Findlay designed especial linocuts for another ongoing AIDS project, also to be embroidered. An exhibition of the embroidered/beaded work runs concurrently at the Artist Proof Studio with the exhibition of linocuts at GALLERY AOP.
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Sandile Goje. Bitter, sweeter journey of South Africans. 2009. Linocut. Edition 10. 1050X2100mm
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Dikgwele Paul Molete. Cross pigeons. 2010. Linocut. Edition 10. 2100X1050mm
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Diane Victor. Nevermore detail. 2010. Linocut. Edition 10. 2100X1050mm
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Walter Oltmann. Coelacanth. 2009. Linocut. Edition 10. 2100X1050mm
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Elza Botha Miles. In memoriam Ingwavuma van die Timbavati vir Credo Vusamazulu Mutwa, Maria Khosa en Linda Tucker. 2008. Linocut. Edition 10. 2100X1050mm
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Colbert Mashile. Mma waka Montedi. 2010. Linocut. Edition 10. 2100X1050mm
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Joël Mpah Dooh. Yo! My Jozy... 2009. Linocut. Edition 10. 1050X2100mm
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Motsamai Thabane. Daddy s girl. 2010. Linocut. Edition 10. 2100X1050mm
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Phillemon Hlungwani. Xilo xi n wana ni n wana xi ni nkoka eka nw winyi wa xona. 2010. Linocut. Edition 10. 1050X2100mm
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