MTN and Sanlam are showcasing a selection of artworks from their respective art collections in the collaborative exhibition Re Mmogo: We are Together which will be open for viewing at Sanlam’s Offices on 11 Alice Lane, Sandton, Gauteng, from 7 September 2022.
This considerable exhibition features over 100 pieces by 75 artists from South Africa, the African continent, and its diasporic global community.
Stefan Hundt, curator of the Sanlam Art Collection says, “the present exhibition with the MTN Art Collection was conceived to be one of a complimentary collaboration in the spirit of the title Re Mmôgô (We are Together, translated from Se Tswana).
Hundt continues, “key works were selected to highlight the communalities where both collections hold artworks by the same artist such as Gerard Sekoto, Durant Sihlali, Willem Boshoff and Simon Lekgetho. In other instances, there were conceptual or formal congruities such as in the works for Gavin Younge and Stephen Maqashela, Yinka Shonibare and Tracey Rose, Kwesi Owusu-Ankomah and Alexis Preller”.
This is not MTN and Sanlam’s first collaboration. In August 2021 the companies announced that they have joined forces in an exclusive strategic alliance to develop and distribute a comprehensive range of insurance, investment and savings products to their customers across Africa. “For MTN, this is an opportunity to aggressively grow its fintech business while Sanlam gets the benefit of tapping into new markets”, writes Londiwe Buthelezi for Finance24 (12 August 2021).
“The cultural collaboration further solidifies this business partnership and demonstrates how two corporates, from historically different backgrounds, have come together to also present an exhibition which not only showcases a selection of works from the Sanlam Art Collection, now in its 56th year, and the MTN Art Collection, now in its 24th year, but to also validate how both companies have for decades contributed to the South African arts sector in markedly similar ways”, says Niel Nortje, manager of the MTN Art Collection.
Nortje continues, “through the responsible management and preservation of heritage treasures, availing education and internal awareness programmes, and managing avid publication drives to disseminate information about South African, and African, arts, culture, and heritage – Sanlam and MTN have both been contributing significantly not only towards the sector, but also towards government’s nation building efforts.”
Further to this Hundt says, “the works showcased are a small selection of significant images which reflect on the historical transformation of South Africa over the past 50 years. They present a testament to the creative ingenuity of developing a diverse visual vocabulary which speaks of the struggles, anxieties and dreams of an evolving nation as it comes to terms with history and its place in Africa.”
The exhibition will run until 27 January 2023 and can be viewed by appointment on weekdays from 09h00 to 16h30.
Charles Federick Goldie 1870 – 1947 Mon cher Goodman (Portrait of Gwelo Goodman) 1897 oil on canvas Sanlam Art Collection 1989/920
Leora Farber 1964 Beauty Bar 2001 wax, medical instruments, textiles, perspex display cabinet Sanlam Art Collection 2001/24
Ricky Ayanda Dyaloyi 1974 – Workers Returning Home 2009 oil on canvas Sanlam Art Collection 2019/44
Avant Car Guard (Zander Blom 1982 – , Jan-Henri Booysens 1980 – , Michael MacGarry 1978 – ) Cure 2007 ink jet print on paper Sanlam Art Collection 2010/8
Irma Stern 1894 – 1966 Portrait of a young Malay Girl 1939 oil on canvas Sanlam Art Collection 1990/6
Diane Veronique Victor 1964 – Lot’s Wife 2008 etching on paper Sanlam Art Collection 2009/28
Yinka Shonibare 1962 – Diary of a Victorian Dandy: 14h00 Hours 1998 C-type print MTN Art Collection 01.06
William Kentridge 1955 – The Battle between Yes and No 1987 screenprint on paper MTN Art Collection 98.30.01
Ephraim Ngatane 1938 – 1971 Portrait of Dumile Nhlaba Feni 1964 oil on board MTN Art Collection 98.62.01