While this year marked 30 years of democracy in South Africa, it has been a busy year for the Javett-UP art centre at the University of Pretoria, filled with a series of events.

Throughout it all, the “We, the Purple” exhibition has served as a constant backdrop, offering the centre equanimity and anchoring its collective reflections.

Curated by Khumo Sebambo, the exhibition is centred around Pretoria and the role it has played in our country's history. Launched in September to critical acclaim, it features significant works, including Noria Mabasa’s Union Building sculpture, on loan from the Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History.

These partnerships with Tshwane cultural institutions including Unisa Art Gallery and Pretoria Art Museum amplified the exhibition’s reach, while its glimpse at the FNB Art Joburg showcased Javett-UP’s commitment to bridging art and education.

Additionally, the centre celebrated the legacy of artist and poet Lefifi Tladi through the Lefifi Tladi Rescue Project, hosting programmes to preserve his artistic contributions.

The Javett-UP’s focus on accessibility and education shone through various initiatives. The centre welcomed over 14,000 school learners from marginalised communities, integrating art with the South African curriculum through its Living School programme.

In October, a tactile art experience for the visually impaired, curated with Blind SA, provided an inclusive way to engage with apartheid-era sculptures.

Moreover, the publication Handle With Care, archiving the 2021–2022 exhibition of the same name, received the prestigious HSS Award for Best Exhibition Catalogue in March.

These moments reaffirm Javett-UP’s role as a dynamic cultural hub fostering critical engagement with art and history.

World AIDS Day, observed annually on December 1, since 1988, raises awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and honours those who lost their lives. South Africa officially marked the day for the first time in 1996 and it is observed through the artwork of Zanele Muholi, which is to be seen at the centre.

Muholi’s work powerfully confronts the HIV/AIDS epidemic, likened to a genocide in South Africa due to its devastating impact. Created in 2006, the artwork juxtaposes a human torso with condoms to underscore the urgent need for awareness and intervention in a crisis that has affected millions.

It highlights the ongoing struggle for effective response and the stigmatisation that exacerbates the crisis. While South Africa has made significant progress — having the world’s largest HIV treatment programme and with daily infections dropping by 75% since 2000 — Muholi’s work continues to prompt reflection on the struggle.

Also to be seen is the Plurality exhibition - the bi-annual creative outputs exhibition by the members of staff of the School of the Arts, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria.

This year, the exhibition took as its central theme the notion of plurality. According to curator Wayne Matthews, "plurality is not just a state of being, but also a strategy, a form of belonging to the many - being self-referential, auto-poetic, and simultaneously social, cultural, and political. Plurality posits even truth and reality as continually renewed questions."

Plurality is on view in the Bridge Gallery until February 15.

The Embassy of Switzerland in South Africa, meanwhile, in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), inaugurated an exhibition titled "Dialogues on Humanity" in commemoration of the “75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions” at the Javett-UP.

The exhibition is a joint endeavour of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Photo Elysée. The concept behind the exhibit is to allow people to take a step back and pause, to think and to feel. The idea is to provide a space for discussion about humanity, the humanitarian sphere, and how it is changing.

Pretoria News

zelda.venter@inl.co.za