South Africa

^{Posted on Wednesday, 16th April, 2008}

Exhibition: Skin-to-Skin: Challenging Textile Art

Artists: Various

Standard Bank Gallery, 16 April - 10 May 2008

^{Skin-to-Skin: Challenging Textile Art opens at the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg on 16 April 2008, running until 10 May. Curated by Fiona Kirkwood, the exhibition reflects South Africa's multi-cultural identity and unique history through diverse work by artists using textile-related concepts, techniques and materials.}

^{The title of the show, Skin-to-Skin, is a metaphor for the present day amalgamation of various cultural groups that were racially separated under apartheid. According to Kirkwood, the textile-related works on show are "the artistic fruits of a new unified South African society." These works are by Tamlin Blake, Lynda Ballen, Leora Farber, Nicholas Hlobo, Karin Lijnes, Nkosinathi Khanyile, Fiona Kirkwood, Angeline Masuku, Walter Oltmann, Langa Magwa, Jane Makhubele, Nandipha Mntambo and Yda Walt.}

^{Skin, and skin pigmentation, has played a significant role - politically, socially and culturally - in South Africa. Under apartheid, people were classified into racial groups according to the colour of their skin, and 'skin-to-skin' relationships, or relationships across the colour line, were outlawed. All of this changed when democracy dawned in South Africa in 1994.}

^{One artist on the show who reflects the changing face of the country under South Africa's democracy is Yda Walt. In Miriam Makeba Street (2007), she focuses on Johannesburg as a city transforming itself out of apartheid into a vibrant cosmopolitan environment with immigrants from all over Africa. Another such artist is Jane Makhubele, whose works on the exhibition are based on Nelson Mandela's shirts and illustrate recent episodes in the former president's life, like voting in the 2004 elections.}

^{While skin has been central to the politics of South Africa, it has also been significant as a marker of cultural identity in traditional communities. As such, animal skin is used by a number of artists on the exhibition to comment on aspects of traditional life. Langa Magwa, for example, uses cowhide to explore his experiences of scarification of the face, as well as circumcision as a ritual into manhood.}

^{Goatskin and cowhide are used by Africans to connect with the ancestors - a theme in Tamlin Blake's beaded work, Baby Skins (2007), which is based on Zulu pregnancy aprons (isibodiya), worn to ward off evil spirits and as a request for protection from the ancestors for unborn children.}

^{Angeline Masuku and Karin Lijnes also express an affinity with traditional African societies. While Masuku's basket portrays life in a Zulu village, Lijnes' work, Patricia and Francina (2007), highlights the idea that there were no discarded homeless people in such societies.}

^{While some artists explore their connections with traditional cultures by using skin, Leora Farber's contribution to the exhibition is also about identity but from a different angle. In her photographs and video performance she transforms herself from a white Victorian settler to a post-colonial African by grafting indigenous aloe leaves onto her skin, or what appears to be such.}

^{The exhibition also focuses on another critically important association with skin - HIV/AIDS. South Africa has one of the highest infection rates in the world, exacerbated by the African traditional practice of 'skin-to-skin' sex i.e. without using a condom. While Nicholas Hlobo focuses on issues of masculinity and sexuality in black society, both Fiona Kirkwood and Walter Oltmann explore HIV/AIDS in their work. Kirkwood's work is an installation using a washing line with second-hand clothing, some of which is marked with words and symbols linked to HIV/AIDS, like "multiple partners". Her piece is accompanied by a video showing its use as an educational tool in and around a dowtown shopping centre.}

^{Oltmann's piece, Mother and Child (2007), is a wall-work made of wire showing the skeletal figure of a pregnant women dying of AIDS.}

^{A showcase of contemporary developments in the field of textile art, Skin-to-Skin was recently shown at the Kaunas Art Biennial - Textile 07 in Kaunas, Lithuania.}

^{The show is sponsored by Standard Bank, Artists for Human Rights Trust, Bartel Arts Trust and Pickfords Removals South Africa.}

^{High resolution images available on request}

^{Standard Bank Gallery}

^{Corner Simmonds and Frederick Street, Johannesburg}

^{Tel: 011 631-1889}

^{Gallery hours: Mon-Fri, 08:00-16:30; Saturday, 09:00-13:00}

^{The gallery is closed on Sundays and public holidays.}

^{Admission free}

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