The Mapula women travelled to Gqerberha and Hamburg on a highly anticipated visit to their COVID lockdown partner artists late 2021 and had the time of their lives. A huge thank you to Michaela Howse from the Keiskamma Art Project for planning and organizing what was a significant life-experience for all the artists and sincere gratitude to donors who made this possible.
The exhibition of their 2020 collaborative work at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Art Museum with the accompanying workshops and discussions was the focus in Gqerberha. The women were thrilled to have the opportunity to talk about their collaborative works and the concept of representing ideas symbolically became the central learning outcome.
Since then four of the pairs have sold which has provided welcome income into each of the projects. One pair is in the ownership of a private person and three pairs are now in the collection of the Nelson Mandela Metro Art Museum, Gqerberha.
The week combined both opportunities for artistic development and further exploration of their respective life experiences and artistic expressions. For many of the Mapula women it was the first time at the seaside so time was given for sitting on the rocks, walking along the beach and having a swim in the ocean.
Taking our Collaboration into the future
Everyone involved in this 2020 collaboration felt that another work should come from the Mapula and Keiskamma textile artists working together and, hence, the concept of a 2022 work evolved through workshops held in Hamburg.
And the work is coming to life!
A completed Keiskamma cloth.
A Mapula cloth with some way to go
A reciprocal visit by the Keiskamma artists is planned to co-incide with the Keiskamma Art Project’s Retrospective exhibition which will be opening at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg on Heritage Day, 24 September 2022. The opportunity to host the women from Hamburg (E Cape) in the Winterveld (Gauteng) is becoming a reality!
Watch this space!