Twelve Namibian artists will exhibit their work at the Classic Framers framing shop and gallery in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown), South Africa from 22 June to August.
Taking place under the theme ‘We will be free’, the exhibition is a collaboration between StArt Art Gallery, Nashilongweshipwe Mushaandja and Classic Framers. Participating artists include Nicky Marais, Tony Figueira, Fillipus Sheehama, Namafu Amutse, Elisia Nghidishange, Maria Mbereshu, Jakobina Gideon, Rachel Sakeus, Ndinomholo Ndilula,Vilho Nuumbala, Petrus Amuthenu and Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn.
This exhibition is a group show of Namibian artists who were all asked to respond to a song of the same title by Tschuku Tschuku featuring Nesindano Namises from the album Trance !Namib Freedom Station.
The exhibition will be re-staged in Windhoek in November 2023. To listen to the song, follow the link below or scan the QR code:
https://on.soundcloud.com/Yqi28
This song is about reconciling the painful past, while meditating on freedom and the future. Amongst its lyrics is a verse “when the sun rises, when the morning comes, it will be alright”. The song is a lament, an expression of what John Muafangejo illustrates as “hope and optimism in spite of present difficulties”.
‘We will be free’ is an imagination of what it means to practise freedom from bondage, displacement and dispossession.
Entrance is free.
Mushaandja is a cultural worker, educator and writer with practice-research interests in African performance, sono-somatic archives and public culture. He is based in Windhoek after completing his PhD in Performance Studies at the University of Cape Town. He is the chair of curation and research at Owela Live Arts Collective. He is also the lead singer for the award-winning Afro-Beat/Afro-Jazz/Shambo band, Tschuku Tschuku.
StArt Art Gallery works with some of Namibia’s most exciting contemporary artists to curate critical projects which add to the growing archive of information available to researchers, collectors and art enthusiasts. The gallery was established in 2017 in Windhoek.