EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: CONVERSATIONS: AMONG FRIENDS
A public series presented by the Friends of Education of The Museum of Modern Art, Conversations: Among Friends explores works of art as reflections of their political and social contexts. Please feel free to share this invitation with friends, family, and colleagues. Tickets ($35) may be purchased at the Museum information desk, film desk, online, or through the Friends of Education office.
Conversations: Among Friends
FEATURING ARTISTS SENZENI MARASELA, VUYILE VOYIYA, AND SUE WILLIAMSON
WITH RIASON NAIDOO, DIRECTOR, SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL GALLERY
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
7:00 pm program | 8:15 pm reception
Doors open at 6:45 pm
The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2
The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street, New York City
TICKETS ($35) MAY BE PURCHASED IN PERSON AT THE MUSEUM, ONLINE AT MOMA.ORG,
OR BY CALLING THE FRIENDS OF EDUCATION OFFICE AT (212) 408-8517.
All tickets will be held at the door.
Please use The Ronald S. and Jo Carole Lauder Building entrance,
east of the Museum’s main entrance on Fifty-third Street.
This evening’s program presents a conversation between artists Senzeni Marasela, Vuyile Voyiya, and Sue Williamson, moderated by Riason Naidoo, Director, South African National Gallery, and featuring an introduction by Judy Hecker, Assistant Curator, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books, and organizer of Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now. Following the program, guests are invited to continue the conversation and meet the participants at an intimate reception in The Agnes Gund Garden Lobby.
Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now, on view through August 14 in The Paul J. Sachs Prints and Illustrated Books Galleries, presents nearly 80 prints, posters, books, and wall stencils created over the last five decades that demonstrate the exceptional reach, range, and impact of printed art in South Africa during and after a period of enormous upheaval. Drawn entirely from the Museum’s collection, this exhibition includes recent projects by Senzeni Marasela and Vuyile Voyiya, as well as a seminal work from the 1990s by Sue Williamson. Read more at MoMA.org/southafrica.
Senzeni Marasela (South African, born 1977), a cross-disciplinary artist living in Johannesburg, creates photography, video, prints, and mixed-medium installations involving textiles and embroidery. Her work mines history, memory, and personal narrative, emphasizing historical gaps and overlooked figures. She graduated from the University of Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, in 1998, and shortly thereafter completed a residency at the South African National Gallery, culminating in her work for the Gallery’s Fresh exhibition series. In addition to appearing in venues throughout South Africa and at MoMA, Marasela’s work has recently been featured in exhibitions at the Newark Museum, New Jersey; Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond; and Hood Museum of Art, Hannover, New Hampshire. A new project opens on May 26, 2011, at A.I.R. Gallery in Brooklyn. Marasela is represented by Axis Gallery, New York and New Jersey.
Vuyile Voyiya (South African, born 1961) is an artist, educator, and filmmaker who lives and works in Cape Town. Since the late 1980s he has employed a cinematic approach to linoleum cutting, creating series that depict bodies in movement as they reference themes of violence, love, and representation. His film The Luggage Is Still Labeled: Blackness in South African Art (2003), which he codirected with Julie McGee, takes a critical look at the dearth of black artists in postapartheid South Africa. Voyiya has worked extensively in community outreach and museum education, including at the South African National Gallery, with the children’s rights group Molo Songolo, and with the Visual Art Network of South Africa (VANSA). He was educated at Community Arts Project, Cape Town, and Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town.
Sue Williamson (South African, born England, 1941) is an artist, curator, critic, and author living in Cape Town. Her wide-ranging work, begun in the 1970s, encompasses photography, printmaking, video, and installation, bringing marginalized stories and historical moments from South Africa into artistic statement. She is currently working on the series Other Voices, Other Cities, a project that involves residents of cities from around the world. Her book Resistance Art in South Africa (1989) pioneered the documentation of art during apartheid. She is the founder of ArtThrob (artthrob.co.za), the leading website on contemporary South African art, and author of South African Art Now (2009). Her work has been shown internationally, and she is represented by Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Riason Naidoo (South African, born 1970) is the director of the South African National Gallery (SANG) and Old Town House, part of the Iziko group of museums in Cape Town. Since his appointment in 2009, Naidoo has initiated several exhibitions, most notably the groundbreaking and controversial 1910–2010: From Pierneef to Gugulective, which occupied the entire museum with nearly 600 collection works and loans. Prior to SANG, he served as director of the Timbuktu Manuscripts project, a bilateral project between South Africa and Mali. He formerly taught drawing and painting at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and oversaw art education at the Durban Art Gallery, where he started his career. He has curated a number of exhibitions on the work of photographer Ranjith Kally and The Indian in DRUM Magazine of the 1950s, for which he also published a book (2008). Naidoo has a BA and MA in fine art from University of Witwatersrand, and is also a practicing artist.
ACRAH 