Makamo_catalogue_110427_spreads-1

CityTales and CountryScapes
An exhibition by Nelson Makamo

An exhibition by Nelson Makamo

Contents
6 Acknowledgements
7 Foreword
David Koloane

8 Contested Contemporaneity: Reﬂections on Nelson Makamo’s Neo-Figurative Subjects
Portia Malatjie

14 Inspirations at the Periphery: Reviewing the Work of Nelson Makamo
Nontobeko Ntombela

17 Images
40 Nelson Makamo’s Curriculum Vitae
41 Nelson Makamo’s Biography
42 About the Contributors
43 Exhibition and Catalogue Teams

CityTales and CountryScapes: An exhibition by Nelson Makamo | 5

Foreword
Acknowledgements David Koloane

When Nelson Makamo approached Doctor David Koloane to curate his solo exhibition at Museum Africa, Doctor Koloane, due to his The Twenty-First century is upon us, although only a few years ago, it appeared a millennium away. It has brought in its wake new
busy schedule, suggested to Makamo that I curate the show instead. Doctor Koloane has created an opportunity for me to spread technology such as digital video computer and other related high tech art-making devices.
my curatorial wings, and for that I shall be eternally grateful.
The postcolonial period or, closer to home, the post Mandela period has resulted in the acceptance of ‘multiculturalism’ as a global
I am thankful to Nelson Makamo for agreeing to work with me, and for entrusting me with his exhibition. A big thank you also goes phenomenon embracing diverse cultures. After the demise of the School of Paris and the School of New York, the community of
to Bertrand Reverdy for funding the exhibition. It is through his patronage that Makamo is able to form part of the South African contemporary art began to include, at last, the previously colonised parts of the world. These areas had long been excluded from the
contemporary art scene. international art scene.

I am grateful to Museum Africa for the space in which to host the exhibition. A special thank you goes to Zola Mtshiza for assisting It is interesting to note that despite these drastic changes on the international front, South Africa is still entrapped in some of its artificial
me with everything related to Museum Africa. barriers created by the racial zoning of the past. The art market in South Africa has always been controlled and determined by white
role players over the years. There is presently, however, a bold new generation of practitioners who refuse to be held hostage by the
This catalogue would not have been possible without the assistance of a few people. I am grateful to Derilene Marco who edited the
past and expedite whatever opportunities that exist in the visual arts towards their benefit.
catalogue texts; Nyembezi Phiri of Studio Bezique designs; Madoda Mkhobeni of madimagescapture and Shawn Hatting of Simdall
Projects. A big thank you goes to Lois Anguria for compiling the contributor’s biographies. Nontobeko Ntombela moved beyond
The vexation over who is an international artist and who is not is still a discriminating factor employed in categorising artists and their
writing the second essay in this catalogue, as she allowed me to pick her brain on a regular basis, imparting great knowledge about
acceptance into the art market. It is not until artists take fate into their own hands that effective change will be possible. Black African
her curatorial experience.
entrepreneurs will need to play a major role in the complexities of the art market in order to release black practitioners from the cap in
hand. This will include weaning ourselves from dependence on the commercial gallery.
I am also grateful to those who helped with the exhibition. They include Samson Matentji and William Mabidilala, Scandisplay, the
Installation Team and David Lewis-Browne.
Portia Malatjie is a young art historian and an independent curator who has undertaken the responsibility of curating Nelson Makamo’s
Tiffany Mentoor and Lois Anguria have been superb administrators on this project. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with them and exhibition at the Museum Africa complex. Nelson Makamo from the Limpopo province is an alumni of the Artists Proof Studio. The
appreciate their dedication and their creative input. I certainly look forward to working with them again in future. exhibition is hosted by Museum Africa. The museum is one of the few state institutions with a black African director at its helm. True
to the saying ‘the wheels of government grind slowly’, very few other institutions in this country have black heads – some of these
Portia Malatjie institutions are: The National Gallery and Museum in Cape Town and The State Theatre in Pretoria.

It is an imperative for black African role players to acquire the necessary expertise to remove whatever artificial barriers and obstacles
that still exist. The rigorous training of yesteryear in the traditional techniques of drawing and sculpture are no longer compulsory in
art training in tertiary institutions. Students are taught new media techniques and this has provided them with numerous options to
bypass the traditional techniques of drawing, sculpture and assemblage.

Yet the irony is that an internationally revered artist such as William Kentridge still employs traditional techniques in his drawing based
on animation. It is of course much easier to point a camera and video than a drawing device. Nelson Makamo, in his exhibition,
extracts and gleans subject matter from personal experience. His work will hopefully illustrate the solidity of traditional artistic methods
and their timeless intervention.

6 | CityTales and CountryScapes: An exhibition by Nelson Makamo CityTales and CountryScapes: An exhibition by Nelson Makamo | 7

Contested Contemporaneity:
Reflections on Nelson Makamo’s Neo-Figurative Subjects
Portia Malatjie

I have not had varsity education. That really bothers me. description of contemporary art in ‘non-Western countries’ to discuss the current work in this form of aesthetic theory could utilise traditional art forms and still have
I feel that I have not learnt enough - Lehlohonolo Mashaba 1
accepted standard of art in South Africa. Belting4 suggests that their work valued. The latter classification suggests that the value of the artwork is
dependent on the theory and idea behind it8. This means that in order to appreciate a
[There] are ideas that lie beyond the pale of any existing ...beyond the West, contemporary art...is hailed as a liberation from work of art, the spectator needs to be acquainted with the theories referred to by the
academic community. If you express such ideas you will be modernism’s heritage and is identified with local art currents of recent artists, and the unintended theories that the artwork is referencing.
considered an eccentric. But if standards change, you may origins. In such terms, it offers revolt against both art history with its Western
not remain an eccentric forever. - David Carrier 2 meaning, and against ethnic traditions, which is seen like prisons for local It could be argued that the South African contemporary art scene falls under the
culture in the global world .
5
latter classification of aesthetics. This classification is very elitist and exclusionary as it
eliminates spectators who do not know the context of the artwork, nor are well versed
The contemporary South African art platform is filled with a variety of role players Following from Belting, I would suggest that contemporaneity not only revolts against in art history or academic theory. In contemporary South African art, a work that is
and sub-groupings. These sub categories consist mainly but not exclusively of ‘ethnic tradition’ but against any art form that is not recent. reliant on its formalism and not theory provides proof of its ‘non-intellectuality’ and
commercial galleries, academics who are often affiliated with universities, art critics, non-contemporaneity. This preference of theoretical ideas over the work’s formalism
university art students, art centre students, museum art historians or administrators, When considering the South African art media, one can argue that there is a bias is a perpetuation of the perennial binary oppositions of ‘high’ art versus ‘low/popular’
and curators, whether working independently or in an institution. towards contemporary artworks that utilise newer art mediums. There appears to be a art where contemporary, cutting edge art is seen as high art.
general disinterest in traditional art mediums such as painting, analogue photography,
These interrelated groups are often in a state of perpetual conflict: commercial drawing and printmaking- more recent, perhaps ‘cutting edge’ mediums such as Emerging artists9, especially those working in traditional media and producing
gallerists are criticised by academics for being obsessed with money while academics video art, performance art and installation art take preference. Beyond using current works that are not laden with concepts that require a substantial amount of
are dismissed as being overly theoretical3. Although there are numerous forms of media, contemporary art works often have to explore contemporary issues in an theory to decode, find it difficult to generate interest in their works -both within the
classifications, some groups never become part of the debates within mainstream art abstract, theoretical and conceptual manner. The ideas explored in the work add to scholarly and mainstream realms. These artists’ works are hardly ever perceived as
because their practice appears to not be worthy of mention. Some of these groups their sense of contemporaneity and avant-gardism. contemporary, and to lack contemporaneity is to not belong. To ‘belong’ in the art
are artists that work in what is called craft, and artists that work in traditional media. domain is accompanied by some visibility. For an artist to be present and visible, both
While some of these groupings are excluded from mainstream art, there are the Another criterion for the inclusion/exclusion inherent in contemporary art is the artist and work need to be known, written about, and almost often publicly acclaimed
groupings that partake in and enforce the exclusionary process. Art historians, art matter of aesthetics. Aesthetic theory, as argued by Robert Gero6, was divided into to attain a spot in the historical and current narrative(s) of South African art.
critics and other purveyors of “high” art decide on the kinds of artworks that are two categories. There is a difference between the formalism of a work- the look of
worthy of criticism or worthy of forming the basis of art historical research. the work- and the theory or idea behind it. In the former classification of aesthetic In the same way that artists such as Nelson Makamo are not researched, art historians
judgment, spectators are able to view and appreciate a work of art without knowing also did not show interest in researching African art soon after it entered Europe at the
Contemporaneity is arguably one of the criteria for accepting works in the South Where I Rest my Head is my Home
the context of the art work, but more importantly, without art historical or social turn of the 20th century. Even though African art was becoming part of art collections
Monoprint, oil pastel and ink on paper
African mainstream art domain. The issue of contemporaneity is arguably one of the scientific scholarship and theory . The aesthetics of the work is dependent mainly on
7 70 x 105.5 cm and institutions in the west, this was not matched by equally intense research on the
2011
reasons for excluding some artists from the mainstream. I will borrow Hans Belting’s the formalism of the work and the emotions it arouses in the spectator. Artists who work. The information on African artworks at hand was speculative- the works could


be appreciated sans context10. In the same way that African art was “undeserving African artists in anthropological and ethnographic museums in the West. Among In some of Makamo’s work, it is hard to tell the difference between the urban and the In The Boy in Me, Makamo looks back to his childhood. Nostalgia for his childhood
of the more serious scholarly attention devoted to other world art tradition”11, these shows are Liberated Voices (1999) at the National Museum of Modern Art in rural. For example, works such as Some Memories are Hard to Forget (2011) could is a constant motif in his work; he continuously makes reference to his young self in
contemporary artists who produce works outside of the normative contemporary art New York. Being shown in museums in the ‘West’ was a manner of classification and be a comment on his rural home (Modimolle) or perhaps a township in Johannesburg Modimolle. Another reference to home is in the work Where I Rest my Head is my
standards are relegated to that same fate. While collectors purchase their work- often of differentiating great (Western) artists from the ‘other’ i.e. African artists. However, (his new home). This ambiguity brings life to the work, challenging the viewer to Home (2011). In this work, Makamo references the idea of a sense of belonging in
from their studios- their works are not discussed in art historical research. with the birth of new museology, museums are rapidly reconsidering their existence decode the works beyond the given visual evidence. the city. While Johannesburg might not be seen as ‘home’ for many black people
and meaning on the contemporary art scene. (Ntombela discusses this further by suggesting that people still refer to their rural
Nelson Makamo and many others like him, form part of this excluded grouping Makamo is fascinated by the city and its inhabitants; his works explore the multitude homes as ‘home home’), Makamo suggests that people can make any place their
that hardly ever get discussed. Despite having exhibited locally and internationally of narratives experienced by the contemporary city dweller or city visitor. The city of home, including the city. Black people are no longer outcasts of the city; they don’t
over the past few years, Makamo’s work does not really form part of any critical Discussing the Content of Makamo’s Work Johannesburg shows the imprint of the apartheid system. Under the Group Areas merely access it to do menial work.
discursive platform12. One of the aims of the CityTales and CountryScapes exhibition Act (1950), Hendrik Verwoerd’s government ensured that black people’s movement
is to showcase Nelson Makamo’s work in mainstream art scene and to open up a to the city was controlled. Black people could only enter the city if they were going Where I Rest My Head is my Home is a ghost print of The Boy in Me II (2011).
Nelson Makamo’s work is deeply rooted in figuration. In his oeuvre, one can observe
discussion about his work through the show and the exhibition catalogue. to work and contribute to the expanding apartheid capitalist system. As Achille Makamo always pays attention to the formalism in his work. He seldom relies on
a motif and a conceptual framework located in contemporary rural-urban migration.
Mbembe and Sarah Nuttall observed, Johannesburg was “shaped in the crucible of the printing press, almost always reworking his monoprints and silkscreens with ink
His work, which can be classified as contemporary figurative art or neo-figurative art,
There is a danger that exists in the power placed in both the art historian as well as the colonialism and by the labor of race”16. and pastel. Most of his works are worked over with red and blue pastel, which are
explores issues of contemporary rural-urban migration in South Africa.
art critic. One finds it rather disturbing that decision making, power and authoritative the artist’s personal symbols of life and serenity respectively. The main print and
opinion over creativity lies not with the artist but rather outside of the realm of artistic Makamo’s view of the city, seen in his work, seems to suggest that the city’s main the ghost print become different works through the reworking process as Makamo
The birth of neo-figurative art in Mexico and Spain in the 1960s served to disrupt
production, in the hands of curators, critics, and those whose job is to ‘observe’. visitors are black people. It seems that the walls put up by the apartheid regime brings them to life in different ways.
the exclusionary nature of modern art by reintroducing an expressionist figurative
However, one cannot wholly dismiss the authority that critics and art historians have that demarcated areas where black people were allowed to go, and control the
art form. By returning to the figurative mode of representation, neo-figurative art
with regard to influencing South African art history13. By choosing which works are times of their movements through the city, have not been entirely knocked down. Sometimes his subjects are wearing glasses while at other times they cover their
questions modernity’s insistence on newness, progress and elitism. A discussion ears with headphones. Are they attempting to shut out the city’s lights or drown out
reviewed or researched, art historians and art critics set the standard for the kinds The rather foolish mechanism of discriminating using race has been replaced by a
of work that should be produced. Similarly, curators also have an authority with of Makamo’s works in the framework of neo-figurative art contests the elitist and perhaps more insidious mode of classification: class. To confront the current state the noise in the streets of Johannesburg? Is he suggesting that only the noise they
regards to the kinds of works we choose to exhibit. This process of standardisation so-called progressive nature of postmodernism and the kind of contemporaneity it of Johannesburg’s inner city- decayed, grimy and seemingly deserted- is to deal produce is the only sound they will listen to? His subjects are always on a mission,
is exclusionary in nature. David Carriers 14
asserts that, “to talk about standards for suggests. with contemporary socio-economic and political issues of space and belonging. The either walking away from the viewer or towards them, but, invariably, they are always
evaluating creativity is…to talk about how communities validate opinions and make works ask who owns, who visits, who has fled and who has returned to the city. holding plastic bags, perhaps gesturing at the lumpen pavement commerce.
it possible to have constrained debates.” Artists falling outside of these ‘constrained Makamo’s work explores the manner in which rural-urban migration has changed
debates’ are relegated to a career of untroubled privacy, hawking their works from in accordance to contemporary culture. While migration still occurs, it has assumed In his recent work, Makamo has taken to presenting his subjects from a different The exhibition title, CityTales and CountryScapes, is an oxymoronic take on the shifting
their studios and exhibiting in shows that never receive public attention. different forms. The boundaries between rural and urban are also becoming blurred perspective: a view from his fourth floor studio in August House, a new hub for state of rural-urban migration. Tales are often associated with tradition and, therefore,
as more rural areas are beginning to resemble urban landscapes15. Urban spaces are Johannesburg’s art community. The aerial, “god-like” view- in works such as Monday the rural; scapes (as in cityscapes and not landscapes) are often associated with the
Making use of Museum Africa as a space to exhibit contemporary art is not without on the trot, encroaching onto the terrain of neighbouring urban areas and giving rise Midday (2011) and Pay Day (2011) - is one experienced by many, including those city. Nelson Makamo’s work is an attempt to construct a narrative, varied tales, about
its challenges. Reference to the space unearths an old debate about exhibiting to conurbation. who live and work in high rise building in the Johannesburg CBD. his and other people’s experiences of living in the city.


Footnotes

1 L. Mashaba, Artist Proof Studios graduate, unpublished interview
with Portia Malatjie, 2010.
2 D. Carriers, “Deep Innovation and Mere Eccentricity: Six Case
Studies of Innovation in Art History” in E. Mansfield, ed., Art History
and its Institutions: Foundations of A Discipline. London; New York:
Routledge, 2002, p. 115.
3 E. Mansfield, “Introduction”, in E. Mansfield, ed., Art History and
its Institutions: Foundations of a Discipline. London; New York:
Routledge, 2002, pp 2-3.
4 Hans Belting, “Contemporary Art and the Museum in the Global
Age” in P. Weibel and A. Buddensieg, ed., Contemporary Art and
the Museum, Germany: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2007, p. 2.
5 Belting’s text is slightly limited in that he does not acknowledge
the different traditional art forms that have been produced in these
so-called ‘non-Western’ countries. His text suggests that there was
‘ethnic’ art forms, and later ‘contemporary art. He fails to account
for ‘modernist’ art production that has been taking place in areas
like South Africa for many decades.
6 R. Gero, “Introduction: The Border of the Aesthetic” in J. Elkin, ed.,
Art History Versus Aesthetics, London: New York: Routlegde, 2006
7 R. Gero, p. 6.
8 R. Gero, p. 3.
9 I make a point of distinguishing emerging artists from established
artists with regard to their use of media. Artists such as David
Koloane, Colbert Mashile, William Kentridge and Deborah Bell work
in printmaking and drawing, and their use is accepted in South
African Art domain.
10 C. Steiner, p. 134.
11 C. Steiner, p. 137
12 There are a number of articles written on Makamo, including one
in True Love (a popular magazine published by Media 24), which
do not constitute critical discussions. Apart from a few instances,
such as Makamo’s interview with Robyn Sassen (2007) in Art South
Africa, Makamo has hardly been discussed in mainstream art scene.
13 The art historian and the art critic are important and so is the art
patron or sponsor. Christopher Steiner (2002; 132) points to the
influence that collectors had on the history of African art. In fact, it
was the collectors who cleared the path for the art historians to set
their discourses in writing. It is important to point out that CityTales
and CountryScapes was made possible by Bertrand Reverdy, an art
advocate by his own definition, as an attempt to rectify some of the
exclusionary problems we are faced with in South African arts.
14 D. Carriers, p. 117.
15 T. Champion & G. Hugo, “Introduction: Moving Beyond the Urban-
Rural Dichotomy” in T. Champion and G. Hugo, ed., New Forms of
Urbanization: Beyond the Rural-Urban Dichotomy, England: Ashgate
Publishing, 2004, p. 3.
16 A. Mbembe & S. Nuttall, “Introduction: Afropolis” in A. Mbembe and
S. Nuttall, ed., USA: Duke University Press, 2008, p. 1.


The Journey of Inspiration:
Reviewing the Context Nelson Makamo’s Work
Nontobeko Ntombela

South Africa’s recent and distant history has been shaped, in no small part, by migration, the formation of a new visual vocabulary, increased recognition of black artists and
vocabular Makamo’s work depicts his numerous journeys between Modimolle and
especially that of rural dwellers moving to the urban areas. Disenfranchisement and expansion in the consumption of black art. The exhibitions, Neglected Traditions: Johannesburg. His work also documents how the conditions of these spaces and
land expropriations pushed people from their rural idylls into urban spaces to become Towards a New History of South African Art: 1930 – 1988, curated by Steven Sack,
1988 their features continue to inspire many artistic movements. The way he documents
part of the cash economy. Tributaries Exhibition (1985) curated by Ricky Burnett, and Land and Lives (1990), are these spaces brings to light the social impacts of these movements: the depopulation
consequences of this new interest. of rural landscapes and the concomitant overpopulation of the cities.
Apartheid’s core infrastructure has been dismantled but rural-urban migration
continues as people move to the city to earn a living. The migration is a one-way However, the energy levels of yesteryear seem to have subsided. Perhaps the His works show an interest in people and his portrayal of the city dwellers is both
street that siphons young people’s move from the rural to deposit them into the urban assumption is that, with the advent of democracy, opportunities have now become tender and stark, and this is especially evident in the work titled Dreams (2010). This
areas. Few make the return journey. One could argue that the same is true about equitable3. Higher education in the arts remains mostly available in the large cities. is a representation of several street kids huddling for warmth against an indifferent,
artistic practice; due to a lack of higher education facilities and dearth of opportunities cold cityscape. In the more recent work, Some Memories are Hard to Forget (2011),
This means that artists from rural areas have to move to the cities to access these
in rural areas, artists in those areas move to the big cities to gain a qualification and he uses memory as a strategy to create a nostalgic narrative grounded in his rural
opportunities - a journey which Makamo made from Modimolle to Johannesburg.
make a living. upbringing. Shopping for Life Materials (2011) is a wry commentary on urban
Remaining in rural areas means that (aspiring) artists will find it hard to interact with
consumption.
an audience that could potentially gain interest in their work.
The current lack of opportunities is a result of South Africa’s apartheid past. Arts and
craft previously called ‘handicraft1’ was included into the primary school curriculum Nelson Makamo uses his creative skill to make poignant commentary on the urban
Nelson Makamo’s work investigates the urban and the rural, the relationship between
in 1948-the year the National Party took over. This was a consequence of Prime and the rural and the movement between these two spaces. His work provides us
these and the occupiers of those spaces. He is observant in noting the people’s
Minister Hendrik Verwoerd’s belief of the inferiority of black people - he expressed with a new, insistent vocabulary to define and map our everyday spaces.
everyday experiences and the connectedness of different cultures and how this
this in the now infamous statement that described blacks as fit only to be “hewers
results in the creation of new identities - what could be called a multiplicity of city Footnotes
of wood and drawers of water”2 – in essence, Verwoerd made it apparent that the
cultures. The title of the CityTales and CountryScapes exhibition examines concepts
apartheid system had clear delineations of power and in this system, black people
around identity, belonging and culture. Makamo’s work is a depiction of his personal 1 Gladys Mgudlandlu an artist and art teacher in the 50s and 70s was quoted on the The Cape Argus
were fit only to be labourers. Those who went through the schooling system were newspaper, 4 January 1971 in an interview about the methods she uses to teach art in school. In this
taught art forms that could have been perceived as inferior- examples of these are experiences and his gaze of the world. The South African world he’s looking at is one interview she refers to the ‘arts and craft’ as ‘handicraft’, the subject name that was used in the Bantu
carving, beading and weaving. These paved a way of preparing black people for their still plagued by poverty and deep structural inequalities. The causes of these realities school curriculum. She was quoted saying ‘Handicraft as well as painting is a form of self expression. The
kids do it their own way, as they like it – I Just help them to make it better. [...] I prefer to help the child
destiny as labourers. However, some of these skills are now accepted as formal craft are depicted with care and awareness. express his artistic feeling and correct, guide and encourage him. Recently I sent my children to the factory
dumping grounds, telling them to collect scrap material to use in the handicraft classes.’ (The Cape Argus:
and fine art forms, allowing for many artists- including artists from rural settings- to 1971)
be exhibited in galleries and on other mainstream platforms. Like so many South Africans, Makamo’s reference to home is bifurcated; it refers to 2 Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, South African History Online, accessed Thursday 21 April 2011. http://www.

both an urban and rural home. His work thus speaks about redefining this sense of sahistory.org.za/pages/people/bios/verwoerd-hf.htm
3 The research conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (2010) on the State of the visual Arts

The 1980s exhibited an era of political upheaval and the art landscape largely home and recreating a sense of belonging. Vulindlela Nyoni best describes people’s demonstrates that the current state of the arts still shows great imbalances rural and urban dwellers with
regards to participation and profit generating in the arts. What this research does is point out the challenges
mirrored these changes. There was a sudden need for public institutions to reflect need to belong in his essay, On Art, Power, Other and Identity, saying, “as human
Identity
Dreams I that artists such as Makamo still face. G. Hagg, An Assessment of the Visual Art Sector in South Africa
the artistic practices of the time. There was a need for diversity and inclusion, Charcoal on paper beings we have [a] need for a sense of place, a sense of being and belonging – be and Assistance to the Department of Arts and Culture in Developing a National Policy for the Visual Arts
100 x 150cm DAC/0006/07/T. (Commissioned by the Department of Arts and Culture, September, 2010.
particularly in cultural production. The corollary was the inclusion of artists from 2010
it a geographical, biological, spiritual, we all employ our particular modes of self- 4 Nyoni V, “On Art, Power, Other and Identity”, C. Brown and N. Paul, ed., Ishumi/10, Durban: Durban Art

rural areas into the mainstream; an increase in scholarly interest in neglected artists, recognition. [...] To put it simply, we all have need of a sense of home4.” Gallery, 2004, p. 86.


Untitled
Monoprint
130 x 42.5 cm
2011


Growing Up
Ink on Paper
104 x 24.9 cm
2011


Untitled Mr Nice Guy Never Talk Back
Monoprint and oil pastels on paper Monoprint and oil pastels on paper Silkscreen and oil pastel on paper
106.8 x 78.2 cm 106.8 x 78.2 cm 111 x 70 cm
2011 2011 2011


Growing Up
Ink on Paper
104 x 24.9 cm
2011


Shopping for Life Materials The Boy in the Me II Streetwise
Monoprint, oil pastel and ink on paper Monoprint and oil pastels on paper Silkscreen
75.2 x 123 cm 69.7 x 105.4 cm 70.9 x 100 cm
2011 2011 2011


A Product of Limpopo with Joburg Label The Vision is So Narrow
Monoprint, oil pastel and ink on paper Monoprint, oil pastel and ink on paper
119.6 x 70.2 cm 119 x 70.2 cm
2011 2011


I’ve got a Vision
Ink on Paper
103.9 x 24.8 cm
2011


Reunion Helpless Dreamer Monday Midday
Monoprint and oil pastels on paper Monoprint, oil pastel and ink on paper Silkscreen
62.2 x 101.5 cm 62 x 101.4 cm 70.6 x 99.9 cm
2011 2011 2011


Mind of a Youth
Ink on Paper
103.6 x 28.8 cm
2011


Pay Day The Boy in Me I Moment Alone Keep in Touch
Silkscreen and ink on paper Monoprint and oil pastels on paper Monoprint Silkscreen
70.2 x 99.5cm 70.2 x 99.5cm 77.7 x 106.5cm 70 x 111.1 cm
2011 2011 2011 2011


Some Memories are Hard to Forget
Ink on Paper
103. 8 x 25.1 cm
2011


Nelson Makamo’s Curriculum Vitae Nelson Makamo’s Biography
Education Group Exhibitions Publications Nelson Makamo was born in Nylstroom (now Modimolle), Limpopo province, in 1982. Makamo moved to
Johannesburg to join the Artist Proof Studio in January 2003. He was the recipient of the Johnson and Johnson
2003-2006 Artist Proof Studios 2010 Young Contemporaries, Galerie Nikki The Arts Section (2010) Street Art. True Love, bursary (2005) and the Pinpointone Human Resources Scholarship (2005).
Diana Marquardt, Paris (France) p. 90.
Makamo has exhibited in group and solo exhibitions in South Africa, France, Italy, America, Netherlands and
Solo Exhibitions My City, Arts on main, Johannesburg Hengen, E (2010) Das Wahre Gesicht
Scotland. His ﬁrst solo exhibition, Walk with Me, was held at the Obert Contemporary Gallery in Melrose Arch,
Suidafrokas, Tageblatt, p. 18.
2009 Sharing Realities II, African Studies 2009 City Link, Gallery 23, Amsterdam, Johannesburg. His most notable group exhibition was alongside established South African artists in Ten Years of
Centre, Leiden, (Netherlands) Netherlands Zvomuya, P. (2010) Jozi for the Alienated. Mail Printmaking: David Krut Print Studio in 2006. Invited artists included David Koloane, Colbert Mashile, Deborah
and Guardian, p. 6. Bell and William Kentridge. Makamo has recently exhibited with emerging young artists Lehlohonolo Mashaba
Walk with Me, UTS Gallery, Interpretation of the 50’s, Gallery on
and Senzo Shabangu in My City exhibition, curated by Andile Magengelele.
Edinburgh, Scotland the Square, Sandton, Johannesburg
Collections
A Place I Call Home, Gallery on the 2007 Cultural and Business Art Exhibition, Makamo’s commissioned works include a series of Lekas Lekalakala’s portraits for a Chamber Lekalakala opened
Square, Johannesburg Somma Lombardo, Italy Annie Lennox at Potgitesrus (now Mokopane), in 2006. Other commissioned works include portraits of Nelson Mandela, Oliver
Tambo, and Walter Sisulu, for Matasis Investment Holdings. Matasis is a portmanteau of the names of these
2008 Moving into Light, KZNSA Gallery, Making Identity, The Thompson City of Johannesburg
Durban South African icons.
Gallery, Johannesburg
Georgio Armani
Sharing Realities, Gallery Izarte, 2006 Ten Years of Printmaking, David Krut Makamo’s work forms part of a few collections, including those of fashion mogul, Georgio Armani, and musician,
Zutphen, (Netherlands) Print Studios, Johannesburg Hanzehof Zutphense Kunstcollectie
Annie Lennox. Makamo was Art South Africa’s seventh “Young Bright Thing” for 2007.
2005 Walk with Me, Obert Contemporary Matasis Investment Holdings
Student and Staff Artists Proof
Art Gallery, Johannesburg
Telkom
Studio Exhibition, Gallery on the
Square, Johannesburg
Unisa
2003 Student and Staff Artists Proof

Studio Exhibition, Wits Substation
Gallery

Print Marathon RAU Art Gallery,
Johannesburg

Print Marathon, Boston (USA)


About the Contributors
Portia Malatjie
Exhibition/Curatorial Team
Portia Malatjie Curator
Tiffany Mentoor Administrator
At the time of writing, Portia Malatjie had just submitted her Masters thesis in History of Art at Wits University, Johannesburg. Malatjie
Lois Anguria Assistant Administrator
is an aspiring curator and has been involved in a few exhibitions. In 2010, she was curatorial researcher and Education Programme
Coordinator for the SPace: Currencies in Contemporary African Art (2010) exhibition and chief curator for Blissful Disturbance (2010 Catalogue
David Koloane Contributor
Wits University Fine Arts Masters Exhibition at UCT). Malatjie occasionally writes for the City Press and Artthrob. She has participated
Portia Malatjie Contributor
in a number of conferences and panel discussions, including the South African Visual Art Historian (SAVAH) Conference (2009). She Nontobeko Ntombela Contributor

was recently a panelist of a discussion entitled, Ain’t I a Woman, a talk examining Tracey Rose’s exhibition Waiting for God at the Lois Anguria Contributor
Deriline Marco Copy Editor
Johannesburg Art Gallery (2011). Madoda Mkhobeni Photographer
Nyembezi Phiri Layout designer

David Koloane Simdall Projects Printer

One of South Africa’s own veteran in the arts, Doctor David Koloane has made a substantial contribution to the development of art in Museum Africa

Southern Africa. Born in 1938, Koloane received his ﬁrst art training at Bill Ainslie Studios during the mid to late seventies. His interest 121 Bree Street
Newtown
in art began in his high school years and has since carried him to take part in many prestigious exhibitions and art programmes Johannesburg, 2001
including the Triangle International artists Workshop Exhibition (1983) and the Liberated Voices: Contemporary Art from South Africa, T: +27 11 833 5624
F: +27 11 833 5636
exhibited at the Museum for African Art in New York (1999) and other exhibitions in Holland, Finland, England and Italy. It was from
his involvement in the Triangle International Artists Workshops that Koloane went on to co-found the Thupelo Workshops. He is the All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recorded or otherwise, without prior permission of

winner of the Prince Claus Fund Award (1998) for his contributions to the arts. He is the co-founder of the ﬁrst Black-owned gallery the CityTales and CountryScapes exhibition team.
CountryScapes’

in Johannesburg, Fordsburg Artists Studios - now known as the Bag Factory. He is currently the Director of the Bag Factory Artists’
Studios in Newtown.

Nontobeko Ntombela
Nontobeko Mabongi Ntombela is studying towards her Masters degree in Fine Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand. Ntombela
has curated several exhibitions including Modern Fabrics (Bag Factory in 2008) and the MTN New Contemporaries Arts Award,
KZNSA Durban in 2010. In Durban, Ntombela participated as a facilitator in the Isimangaliso Arts Programme. Ntombela has also
presented papers at workshops, seminars and conferences; a highlight is the New Kirkcudbright International Arts Festival in 2007
which took place in Scotland and where she also completed a residency as a visiting co-ordinator in 2004. Ntombela is the co-founder
of Dala, an artist collective and the 20th Century Sisters Network; both were founded in 2008. She has served on the boards of a
number of organisations, most recently the VANSA National Committee in 2010. Ntombela is curator at the Durban University of
Technology Gallery from 2006- she is currently on study leave.

Contributors’ biographies compiled by Lois Anguria


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