Orms and Iziko Museums have launched the People’s Project in a bid to promote art by women artists, as well as to make art more accessible.
Orms will showcase inspirational South African women artists’ work from the permanent collections of Iziko South African National Gallery. Every three months select artworks will be displayed on the street-facing shop front of the Orms Print Room, on the corner of Roeland Street.
The initiative commenced on 9 August 2018, by showcasing a photographic piece by multi-disciplinary artist Thania Petersen, titled Location 4: District Six.
Thania Petersen says: “I think it is of utmost importance that the people of South Africa know that this collection belongs to them. It is theirs to enjoy and engage with. Most commuters don’t have the time nor space in their lives to see their very own art collection, which the curators at Iziko National Gallery work so hard to collect and preserve for them. It is wonderful that the work can now spill out onto the streets and into the public for all to see at any given time of day or night.”
Women in the art world receive little recognition or access, and this is doubly true for female artists of colour. Socio-economic factors may appear to have been solved with access to fellowships and scholarships being granted to many more artists of colour. Yet the brokerage of daily survival issues still remains arduous for too many. These factors are coupled with the fact that South African society does not regard the role of artists and the arts as vital to the development and transformation of a society and life.
The artwork, Location 4: District Six is from the series I am Royal, which addresses particular historical and cultural issues around Cape Town. Through the selected image, the artist draws attention to one of the sites of forced removals in the 1950s. The now haunted empty space she stands in, once a thriving diverse neighbourhood, points to the enduring effects of apartheid and spatial segregation and the slow pace of redress and restitution. Contemporary trends such as gentrification exacerbate these issues ensuring that in 2018, Cape Town central remains unaffordable and inaccessible to the majority of its local residents.
What: People’s Project – Thania Petersen
Where and when: Orms Print Room, 66 Roeland Street, City until 31 October 2018
WS
