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Photos: Meena Menon

First of its kind: The fair opened up opportunities for artists.

Ross Douglas, director of Artlogic, the company behind the fair, admitted that the market for African art was small but the aim was to create a strong local demand for work in Africa. The contemporary arts scene in Africa has risen rapidly in the last three to four years and finally a critical mass was arrived at, to launch the country’s first ever art fair.

While there are big problems for contemporary art in Africa, with few museums and no state collection, the event certainly opened up opportunities for artists of all kinds. One special project was showcasing art from the Funda Community College fine art department, founded in 1984 in Soweto. This department, formerly known as the African Institute of Art, acted as a creative voice against apartheid.

Charles Nkosi, head, the department of fine art, said that in the past, art reflected the current scenario. “Earlier as artists we joined hands with the political prisoners and the trade unions but now this is a different time, post-apartheid. Students are freer to express themselves. In those days protest art meant a passage to jail. All artists of that time were defiant. Now I find there are more personal experiences, reflecting current social trends.”

Funda’s students, like 33-year-old Michael Fosho Mahlangu, still find xenophobia a subject for art. Michael draws from personal experience. “I think there is an element of protest in art and I find xenophobic elements in this country. My work is based on my experience. When I came to Johannesburg in 2003, I was arrested by the police because I did not have identification papers. I was in prison and I saw people arrested for no fault of theirs.”

Nkosi says black consciousness means you feel free to be who you are. For instance Jeff Nkabinde’s “Amajita” or “street urchins waiting for an adventure” reflects the rainbow nation that South Africa is now. The painting, which sold for 6000 Rand, according to Nkosi is “reminiscent of where we are coming from. We want artists to come out of their chains and interpret art in their own terms. It is art for art’s sake now”.

So you have youngsters like Wandile Khumalo painting his experience of circumcision and Joseph Monnatlala Thapiso doing line prints in back and white of train surfing. Says 24-year-old Thapiso, “In Africa you have to collect the spirit of the dead person and take it to their home. In Zulu culture there is a small plant which women use to gather the spirit. The print shows women bending over tracks to collect the spirit of the boys who die while train surfing and take it home.” Like him, Wandile, whose work on circumcision has already been sold, feels that it is an important initiation process for young men. “People are drifting away from their tradition and I want to tell them go back to it, it is worthwhile and important. It is a good thing for Black Africans.”

There was also a specially curated show “As you like it”, by Simon Njami, chief curator of the successful Africa Remix exhibition, consisting of a video maze apart from photographs and paintings from Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Benin, Cameroon and other countries.

Many felt that Njami’s participation in the art fair gave it the credibility it needed but the curated show also had its share of criticism for not really showcasing upcoming contemporary African talent. International contemporary art galleries at the 2008 Joburg Art Fair include the Perry Rubenstein Gallery and the Jack Shainman Gallery from New York, Galerie Peter Hermann from Berlin, Galerie Ames d’Afrique from Strasbourg, The Townhouse Gallery and L’Appartement 22, Rabat from Morocco and the October Gallery from London. Galleries had works on sale from many big names, including Zwelethu Mthethwa, William Kentridge, Guy Tillim, David Goldblatt, Pieter Hugo and Moshekwa Langa. Reflecting on the fair, Warren Siebrits, gallerist, says the market for art could get bigger and more people were buying art now than five years ago. He too agrees that younger artists are not so focused on the past and feel relieved that they can do other things.

One important artist featured here was Walter Battiss whose battle with censorship is history. His famous rag doll with its eyeless, mouthless, earless and breastless form challenged the entire political system. “I want to find that doll,” smiles Siebrits.

Women artists have a special place in African contemporary art and gallerist Peter Hermann added a controversial twist by displaying contemporary art by African women that questioned religion and politics. He looks on the fair with “a happy eye and a sad eye”. The fair helps with art promotion but it is fixated in South Africa, which has a white racist background.

Artists like Robin Rhode, a former Johannesburg-based performance artis,who specialises in what he calls interactive art where he performs and paints his own images, feel it is important to move beyond South Africa and look at the contemporary art world from a different perspective.

Another highlight was the solo exhibition by Marlene Dumas, the Amsterdam-based South African artist who charmingly explains her work in the film “Miss-Interpreted” screened at the opening of her show “Intimate Relations”. Specialising in “second hand models and first experiences” as she puts it in the film, Dumas’ work reflects her horror of racism, aspects of beauty, and her powerful images say it all.

Some gallerists say the fair was better than expected and there was a lot of interest. However, Joost Bosland of the Michael Stevenson gallery based in Cape Town says “I don’t know if it makes sense to have an art fair in a country that has few serious art buyers.” The ideal scenario would be to have a one shop stop for African art, he added. There is a proposal to make this fair an annual event which many feel would be a good thing. Despite its glitches, there is no doubt that it was an important event in African art history and there can be no going back now.

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