south african art

It's Sunday and tomorrow is youth day, the day South Africans celebrate people my age. The holiday is in remembrance of the uprisings in Soweto on June 16 in the 70s. No work, long weekend = adventures.
Yesterday I went hiking with kids in from a local township, which was fabulous. The weather was decent, not perfect, but nice enough for a hike. This morning it was raining, cold, and gloomy. I prefer the "monkey's wedding" rain that occurs quite frequently here. "A monkey's wedding" refers to a day when it is raining and the sun is out. I wanted to visit the market today, but the weather did not seem conducive to outdoor commercialism. I opted instead for the SA National Art Gallery. The gallery contains a lot of pieces from Europe, specifically England and Holland, and a few from South Africa. The pieces were all quite lovely. One sculpture used black and white marble to create Othello. The combination was striking. There was also an entire section on clothing and how fabric is enticing to the senses. The pieces here were fabulous.
As far as special exhibits go, 2 of the selections were particularly moving to me. The first exhibit I toured was by Cecil Skotnes, a native South African. His work covers a wide use of media and is awe-inspiring. He also stood up to the apartheid government to teach kids from the townships art and allow them to come to his home where they could be exposed to other artists and special techniques. One of the bowties he designed was particularly interesting. It had buttons on one half of the top bow, and on the opposing side, 2 bow, buttons appeared again. The contrast striking. After this exhibit I visited an exhibit of the architect Paucho Guedes, a Portuguese who was raised in Mozambique, trained in South Africa, and returned to Mozambique to design Maputo for 25 years. His work was very modern and helped me understand where the crazy 1960s (sometimes quite hideous) designs came from.
After leaving the psychedelic, I entered the stark reality of apartheid South Africa. The work of the photographer Ernest Cole was on show. He was a brilliant photographer, who overcame many different forms of opposition to publish his work. In his late twenties, he published a book of photos showing the difficulty that blacks living in townships faced. He hoped that when people saw the pictures, there would be an outcry from many nations to end the injustices. However, the ANC was closely linked to the communist party, so it wasn't until after "the fall of the berlin wall" that apartheid was condemned by governments. His work spoke to me. He was condemned by SA for his work and forced to relocate. He ended up living in NYC, and died penniless in 1990, 4 years before apartheid ended. No one knows where he hid his negatives, so his work has been lost in a way. Although forgotten to many, I think his work is wonderful and hope that someday more of his photographs will be uncovered.
My trek back to the train station included a quick tour through the company gardens by the parliament building. All of the squirrels were ridiculously fat and very person friendly. I photographed several, including a white squirrel- perhaps albino- he did have red eyes. Cape Town on a rainy Sunday is pretty low key. Few shops are open, and everyone is friendly. I am cold though. It is june in the Southern hemisphere, and I am wearing my winter jacket with liner that smells like cigarettes. Cigarettes- yes the Dutch won!- and the game was amazing- and bars in SA still allow indoor smoking...... till next time....