A SPOTLIGHT ON 2023

The Melrose Gallery

Philiswa Lila and Ivukuvuku - Performance Artwork:

On the 12th of January, a large audience, joined us to experience a performance artwork titled ‘Enkundleni – Pouring Healing’. This was another in a series of performances presented by Philiswa and Ivukuvuku that deal with issues of Gender Based Violence. Enkundleni, focused on ‘healing’ whilst ‘A Bed Called Home’, which was presented in December, explored ‘pain’.

The performances draw from personal experiences in producing work that channels memories, feelings and emotions that are based on the past, but reoccurring in the present as interpretation of continuous healing.

The Melrose Gallery is passionate about performance art and has planned an exciting programme of performances throughout the year which we intend expanding on year on year.

Esther Mahlangu Retrospective Exhibition:

The Melrose Gallery has been tasked with implementing Dr Esther Mahlangu’s Retrospective Exhibition and the global museum tour thereof.

We will spend the year working with the exhibition curator Nontobeko Ntombela, researchers, educational officers, writers, publishers, film makers, museums, and others to produce the Retrospective Exhibition which is set to launch in South Africa in 2024.

The exhibition will be accompanied by old and new artworks, historic and current photographs, a documentary, a comprehensive publication, and educational programme.

Made possible with support from BMW and the National Arts Council, and other sponsors yet to be announced, it is expected that the exhibition will generate more exposure than any in South Africa’s history. We invite any parties with older works, photographs, video and other content of relevance to Dr Mahlangu’s life and extraordinary career that spans 7 decades to contact us on curator@ themelrosegallery.com to discuss the possible loan thereof for the Retrospective Exhibition.

Pitika Ntuli - Return to the Source at Durban Art Gallery:

We are pleased to announce that Pitika Ntuli’s ground-breaking exhibition, Azibuyele Emasisweni, will launch at Durban Art Gallery on 30 March 2023. After a well-received run at Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Durban audiences will be treated to an extended run of 10 months.

The exhibition and associated programme, curated by Ruzy Rusike and the DAG team, panel discussions, walkabouts, workshops, performances, poetry and storytelling celebrating African spirituality.

33 bone sculptures accompanied by praise songs performed by Pitika Ntuli will be presented together with engagements by 31 thought and creative leaders in the form of poetry, writing, film, song, music, and dialogues.

These include the likes of Homi Bhabha, Ngugi Wa Thiongo, Minister Naledi Pandor, Bra Don Mattera, Gcina Mhlope, Sibongile Khumalo, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Ela Gandhi, Buti Manamela, Shaheen Merali and numerous others.

‘Azibuyele Emasisweni’ was nominated for a Global Fine Art Award for best digital exhibition in the world and was presented with a prestigious People’s Choice Award in Paris in 2021.

Sustainability Exhibition:

In March and April 2023, we will be presenting an exhibition with a curatorial focus on defining or better yet identifying what sustainability means from an African ideology and questioning how that is interpreted from a Western gaze.

Blessing Ngobeni Awards Group Show: The Blessing Ngobeni Art Prize is a national art prize and non-profit organization in its seventh year running. The art prize was founded by directors Blessing Ngobeni, Teresa Kutala Firmino and Olwethu de Vos. The prize was created to offer local young and emerging artists the opportunity to exhibit their work in a professional gallery and build their careers.

In partnership with The Melrose Gallery, BNAP will be looking for the next big 3D, performance, and installation artist, to win the coveted art prize in 2023.

The Trojan Horse: Ruzy Rusike has invited 8 visual artists to engage with Dr Willie Bester and his Apocalypse Horse sculpture for an exhibition titled ‘Trojan Horse’.

Each artist will create one monumental new work for the exhibition. Willie created this series of sculptures when soldiers hid in crates on trucks in order to gain access to a township in Cape Town during protests and opened fire from the trucks and killed several members of the coloured community.

The exhibition runs for June and July 2023.

Womxn’s Month and SculptX:

In August, Ruzy Rusike, will be curating an exhibition celebrating womxn artists. These works will be predominantly 2-dimensional works presented on the walls leaving space for weekly performances in the gallery.

In September, the Womxn’s Month exhibition will remain hanging as a ‘skeleton’ that will be expanded to receive the sculptures that will be presented at the 6th instalment of SculptX 2023, the largest annual sculpture fair in South Africa.

We look forward to the powerful engagement between the 2D and 3D works across the same theme to be launched in Womxn’s Month.

Any sculptors who are keen to create new works for SculptX 2023 can email: joy@themelrosegallery.com