UNTOLD STORIES

Legacy of the UNIBO (University of Bophuthatswana) archive, Art of our Alumni exhibition North-West University Art Gallery 29 September – 29 October

Curated by Amohelang Mohajane

The North-West University Art Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of works by art students from the former University of Bophuthatswana (UNIBO). In 2019, more than 50 artworks were found in a storeroom on the Mahikeng campus, where the paintings and sculptures had been relegated for over three decades. The works date from the 1980s to the early 1990s, when the UNIBO (later renamed the University of the NorthWest), offered a degree in Fine Art.

There is currently very little published information and no scholarship on art education at UNIBO and UNW during these turbulent years of struggle and transition from apartheid to democracy. While Bophuthatswana and UNIBO’s history are no doubt burdened, this archive of artworks testifies to the former university’s educational ideals at a time when black students had scarce opportunities for studying art in South Africa. Untold Stories, Legacy of the UNIBO (university of Bophuthatswana) archive, Art of our Alumni exhibition curated by Amohelang Mohajane is an attempt at opening critical discussion and research on the North-West University Collection archive.

UNIBO was founded in 1980 in the erstwhile Tswana ‘homeland’ of Bophuthatswana, one of ten Black ‘homelands’ or Bantustans. Under various laws promulgated from the early 1950s, the apartheid government assigned a ‘homeland’ to Black persons according to their presumed ethnic origin. The apartheid government granted spurious autonomy to ‘homelands’ such as Bophuthatswana, but it further denied Blacks civil and political rights in what was designated ‘white’ South Africa. In 1994, the Bantustans ceased to exist and were again incorporated into South Africa.

T. F. Dichaba, Untitled, 102cm x 74,5 cm, Oil on board, NWU Permanent Collection

T. F. Dichaba, Naked Woman on chair, 57cm x 67 cm, Oil on board, NWU Permanent Collection

The president of Bophuthatswana, Lucas Mangope, regarded the arts as vital to skills development and requested that a department of art be established at UNIBO. The department was established in 1984 and from 1985 to approximately 1994, the art department offered a degree in Fine Art that included painting, drawing, sculpture, Art History, printmaking, educational and maths-based courses focused on visual art.

The exhibition provides an overview of both the arts curriculum of the former department and the personal voices and burgeoning styles of individual students. The subject matter includes still life, figure and perspective studies, portraits and genre scenes in paint on board, plaster busts, wood carving and linocuts. There are also striking self-portraits, exploratory and expressive paintings and sculptures that make strong socialpolitical statements and others that experiment with Cubist and Surrealist influences. While most of the works are unsigned and undated, artists such as Daniel Mosako, George Bhunu, Tommy Motswai, Felicious Dichaba, Frank Ledimo, Johnny Sekwela, L. Sono, R.M. Ramsimphi and Gemma Tabane are represented in the archive and exhibition.

This is clearly a neglected chapter in South Africa’s historical and art historical record. This exhibition and an accompanying panel discussion by alumni and art historians on 2 October are held in the hope of stimulating discussion, research, and scholarship on this rich archive, the students, artists and lecturers, and the socio-historical context of the former art department.

This exhibition was made possible by support from the National Research Foundation and Faculty of Humanities, North-West University.