The Homecoming Centre is hosting an exhibition for First Thursdays, highlighting many talented South African artists in District Six.
Cape Town, South Africa (31 May 2022) – First Thursdays is a fun night out that invites people into the galleries and cultural hubs of Cape Town and Johannesburg on the first Thursday of each month, to celebrate local talent and drum up excitement about new artists.
Prior to the pandemic, these evenings would be massive hits with local artists, restaurants and even nightclubs benefitting from the influx of people. Now that social lives are back on track, it is exciting to hear that First Thursdays are back too!
A new exhibition in District Six, curated by Beathur Mgoza Baker and Sara Bint Moneer Khan, explores the cultural homecoming of artists to the area.
‘Salon Afrique – a Homecoming Reimagined’ opens to the public on 2nd June 2022 at the District Six Homecoming Centre as part of the new HCC cultural venue’s launch celebrations.
The exhibition and its complimentary cultural programme explores themes of visibility, a safe passage and creating a homecoming away from home that welcomes diverse identities from across Africa to commune and coexist under one roof, in Cape Town.
The experimental visual exploration is an immersive salon of contemporary art and heritage to negate cultural invisibility and silencing. It is inspired by the legacy of District Six as a place of memory and convergence where diverse cultures could coexist and truly belong.
This exhibition and accompanying cultural programme explore critical questions through the work of contemporary visual artists, filmmakers, cultural thinkers, and performers, creating a space for dialogue and sharing at a time when our country is struggling to provide Africans with a sense of belonging. Bringing them together as a community at the salon.
The Homecoming Centre, a center of cultural pride and dignity, encourages audiences to explore this unique gathering place of memory, beauty, creativity, and imagination that exposes ideas and art from throughout the African continent. The exhibition responds to the historical space and symbolic role of District Six as a unique place of integration, storytelling and negating difference to enable belonging.
Participating artists include: Segun Aiyesan, Imraan Christian, Zanele Muholi, Haroon Gunn Salie, George Hallet, Timi Kakandar, David Chinyama, Skumbuzo Vabaza, Thania Petersen, Hasan Essop, Omar Badsha, Husein Essop, King Debs, Theophilus Tetteh, George Masarira, Lisolomzi Pikoli, Nandipha Jantjies, Lionel Davis, Tafadzwa Tega, Sma Rajoale Kumalo, Rushda Deaney, Ben Agbee, Sahlah Davids, Serge Diakota, Njoroge Washington Kirika, Imaan Latif, Yusuf Durodola, Scott Williams, Hanna Noor Mahomed, Rahimah Ismail, Mishkaah Amien, Byron Eksteen, Melissa Fontini, and Gulshan Khan.
Salon Africa aspires to reflect the voices of South African and pan-African artists united in their capacity to celebrate Africa and our position in the world through a deeper investigation of memory, cultural identity, and lived experiences that the artworks portray.
This is just one of many exhibitions open to the public in both Cape Town and Johannesburg. You can check out more via the First Thursdays website here.
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