The CCCB presents Apartheid. The South African Mirror, a conceptual and visual approach of the old and new forms of prejudice and racial discrimination, based on a wide selection of original artistic works and documentary material.
The exhibition documents the main stages and characteristics of a tragically famous history and scenario which speak not only mainly of the South African experience, but of its European legacy, of racial ideologies and of the racist cliches and practices fed by Western modernism, and how these prejudices constitute even today a powerful instrument for justifying and maintaining the most arbitrary injustices as well as an important, almost impenetrable barrier for the construction of a cooperative social order, which is egalitarian and ultimately socially sustainable.
The exhibition begins with a historical approximation to racism, and documents the development of the ideologies and practices that establish different categories of human beings –the “races”– in the same period paradoxically, in which modern ideas are established with regard to dignity and equal rights for all individuals.
Following this, and as its central part, the exhibition shows in detail the social, political, economic, cultural and territorial system of apartheid in force in South Africa between 1948 and 1994. Apartheid as an extreme and transparent form of deeply-rooted and clearly Western racism.
Finally, the exhibition demonstrates that over the last two decades new forms of racism and even apartheid have been appearing on a large scale, both within our democratic societies as well as, and especially, in the relationship between rich and poor nations.
To illustrate this historical narrative, Apartheid. The South African Mirror presents a wide selection of South African works of art from the nineteenth century to the present day, paying special attention to the period of Apartheid. As well as offering a panoramic view of the sensitivities and attitudes of the finest creators in relation to the themes addressed in the exhibition, it brings attention to how artistic creation has had and still has a major responsibility in and impact on the construction and consolidation or the fight against prejudices and practices which, in the long term, dehumanize not only the victims, but especially, those who promote and are responsible for these attitudes.
The exhibition includes key works from the most internationally acclaimed South African artists - Jane Alexander, David Goldblatt, William Kentridge, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Santu Mofokeng, Berni Searle, Penny Siopis, Sue Williamson, etc.–, but also many others of extraordinary importance and quality who are not well known outside South Africa: Albert Adams, Peter Clarke, Ernest Cole, Dumile Feni, Billy Mandindi, Ephrain Ngatane, Gerard Sekoto, Durant Sihlali and Paul Stopforth, among others. The final sections of the exhibition include works by artists from the most recent generations, such as Conrad Botes, Churchill Madikida, Johannes Phokela, Nandipha Mntambo, Tracey Rose, Lolo Veleko and Donovan Ward, which demonstrate the continuous vitality of the South African art scene and the renewed commitment by many artists to its historical context. Some of the works, such as in the case of Jane Alexander, Conrad Botes, Nandipha Mntambo, Zwelethu Mthethwa and Peter McKenzie, have been especially produced for this exhibition.
