PITIKA NTULI’S AZIBUYELE EMASISWENI

Launch At Durban Art Gallery

14 April to 21 January 2024

All photos Kobus Robbertze themelrosegallery.com

Pitika Ntuli’s ground-breaking exhibition

‘Azibuyele Emasisweni’ (Return to the Source), curated by Ruzy Rusike, is to travel to Durban Art Gallery in April 2023.

Pitika was recently honoured with yet another award for the exhibition, with a Kyknet Fiesta Award for Best Achievement in the Visual Arts for his well-received run at Oliewenhuis Art Museum as part of the Vrystaat Kunstefees in 2022.

The exhibition was nominated for a Global Fine Art Award for the best digital exhibition in the world and was presented with one of two sought after People’s Choice Awards in Paris in 2021 for its online presentation as part of the National Arts Festival during the pandemic. The team of judges considered over 2000 curated shows across 18 countries and 5 continents including many of the world’s most respected museums and national galleries.

Durban audiences will be treated to a presentation of 55 sculptures created from bone, each accompanied by a praise song written and recited by Pitika. These will be presented with captivating engagements by more than 33 thought and creative leaders who submitted their own material in dialogue with the sculptures. These are in the form of song, music, film, writing and dialogues.

The collaborators include the likes of Minister Naledi Pandor, Albie Sachs, Ela Gandhi, Sibongile Khumalo, Bra Don Mattera, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Zolani Mahola, Ndaduzo Makhathini, Buti Manamela, Antoinette and Zee Ntuli, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Homi J. Bhabha, Shaheen Merali, Simphiwe Dana, Eugene Skeef, Aris Sitas, Monthati Masebe and many others.

“With this exhibition, Pitika has returned to bones, or rather has reconnected himself with the bones of all creation. African Diviners often use bones to connect with the realms of the spirit. But his work with bones more immediately reminds me of the Biblical Ezekiel, in the valley of dry bones. Through the prophet, the God of all Creation makes His breath enter into the bones and they come to life.

This exhibition is in the tradition of our diviners and the vision of the Biblical prophet. Where Ezekiel once walked in the Valley of Dry Bones, Pitika once collected bones in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, among other places. Over and over again, Pitika has made his creative breath enter the bones, and they come to life”. Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o – extract from his catalogue foreword.

Pitika, an elder, poet, sculptor, traditional healer, writer, academic, and activist, worked with Ruzy Rusike, the curator, to conceptualise an exhibition that would encourage humankind to ‘Return to the Source’. To a time of respect for all things, and a natural order that teeters on the balance in a time of anomie.

Azibuyele Emasisweni underscores the realisation that we don’t live in isolation, and that what we do and how we do it has a much wider impact. For this and other reasons Pitika felt it important to invite others to collaborate with him leading to an absolute treasure trove of content that explores African spirituality, the ancestors, life and death, slavery and the Middle Passage, exile, conservation, politics, corruption and much more. www.themelrosegallery.com

The exhibition will be presented as part of this year’s Articulate Africa programme and will include an exciting calendar of walkabouts, workshops, panel discussions, and performances coordinated by Durban Art Gallery and The Melrose Gallery team.

Please scan this QR code to hear Pitika reciting one of his Praise songs.

Callout To Sculptors For Sculptx 2023

Sculptors are hereby invited to submit proposals to the 6th instalment of SculptX, the premier annual sculpture fair in South Africa. SculptX is presented by The Melrose Gallery in association with Melrose Arch.

We will once again present works by emerging, mid-career, and established sculptors throughout various gallery and other indoor and outdoor spaces throughout the Melrose Arch urban precinct in Johannesburg.

SculptX has become a highlight of South Africa’s annual arts calendar as it is unique in that it presents only sculpture, but includes a wide range of sizes, prices, mediums and subject matters. This is one of the few events of its type that provides valuable opportunities for emerging talents to show alongside many of South Africa’s most acclaimed sculptors.

Please feel free to submit proposals for large scale works, and any exciting projects that would help us to shine a light on sculpture and sculptors. Applications for Sculpt X are open to artists, art collectives and project spaces.

All interested parties can submit their application through our online portal, please contact Joy Woolcott for application details at sculptx@themelrosegallery.com

Cut-off date for proposals is the 31st May 2023. SculptX 2023 runs from 6th august 2023 until 31 October 2023.