DECADES IN WAITING THE ART OF OUR ALUMNI UNIBO
13th February- 20 March 2020
Text by Amohelang Mohajane
(Mafikeng archives) NWU Gallery
The exhibition is inspired by a rediscovered Archive in NWU Mafikeng. Too keen to pass on the opportunity, I accepted the invitation. Little did I know I’d be taking a journey back into 31 years of the Universities history.
The archive staff had known the history of how the artworks came into their possession with the help of Kristana Travis who saved the archive when the Fine Art Department closed down many years ago.
We scheduled a meeting with Tonic Dichaba, who was one of the students to meet at the NWU Archives. She was immediately transported back to the 80’s. Nostalgic moments.
While walking through the archives with contemporaries they identified the fellow painters techniques. The archive consists of original linocut and Oil on Masonite renderings of different subject matter. These include figure drawing studies, cubism and perspective, still life’s, selfportraits and everyday scenes from the hood and some protest art.
