Event date: 09 August 2020 at 11:00
Presented by:
- Professor Brenda Schmahmann
The 101 Collecting Conversations: Signature Works of a Century exhibition at the Javett-UP includes the Keiskamma Guernica Tapestry (on loan from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum). This tapestry was produced in 2010 by the Keiskamma Art Project and deals with the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the rural community. It was inspired and echoes the trauma of Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937) which dealt with the horror of war.
At the Javett-UP, the Keikskamma Guernica hangs alongside African Guernica (1967) by Dumile Feni, his mutilated and twisted figures displaying the atrocities of the Apartheid era.
As a subject specialist on the Keiskamma Art Project, we are honoured to have joining us Professor Brenda Schmahmann, South African Research Chair in South African Art and Visual Culture Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture at the University of Johannesburg. Prof. Schmahmann is a published author of several works relating to the subject matter and the critical role that women and the community play. She will give an overview and unpack the importance of the Keiskamma Guernica work, and will be joined by several of the ladies from Mapula Embroideries.
