South Africa’s artistic and culture legends to be honoured

Simphiwe Thabede's portrait of Miriam Makeba. Picture: Supplied

Simphiwe Thabede's portrait of Miriam Makeba. Picture: Supplied

Published Sep 24, 2021

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This Heritage Day, the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) will be hosting an exhibition at the Market Photo Workshop in honour of Mzansi’s greatest and most respected artistic and culture legends.

The exhibition, supported by the Delegation of the EU to South Africa, is part of the ACT Warrior Wall project, an ACT legacy arts initiative.

The Warrior Wall project celebrates and highlights the work of five young photographers from the Market Photo Workshop who are playing their part in shaping the future of arts and culture in South Africa.

The talented photographers - Simphiwe Thabede, Zegugu Ngemntu, Remofiloe Sebobe, Bongiwe Phakathi and Ts’episo Mahooe - will showcase their artistic “through my camera lens” interpretation of Miriam Makeba (Music), Sylvia “Magogo” Glasser (Dance), Don Materra (Literature), David Koloane (Visual Art) and Dr John Kani (Theatre).

Simphiwe Thabede's portrait of Miriam Makeba. Picture: Supplied

The photographers have made use of The Market Theatre archive materials for concept development, design and creation of an artistic photographic transfer of each of the five icons. These will be on display from September 24 to October 8.

The exhibition is aimed at inspiring interaction, conversation, awareness and celebration of our unique South African arts and culture heritage, notably in the month of September when we celebrate South Africa’s diverse cultural backgrounds and enormous talent pool.

“We believe the ACT Warrior Wall mural project will empower these enthusiastic emerging young photographers while honouring and remembering five of The Arts & Culture Trust’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipients - each of them a South African icon in their respective field,” says ACT chief executive, Marcus Desando.

The ACT previously supported qualifying practitioners within the cultural and creative industries as a grant facilitator.

“As the trust, we have radically shifted our focus and role in the industry from that of a grant maker to focusing on the long-term trajectory of the living experience of artists, practitioners and creatives as entrepreneurs,” says Desando.

“We are excited to watch our new programmes such as the ACT Warrior Wall project create and develop learning platforms that will go on to equip participants for possible future business opportunities.”

Don’t miss this historic exhibition, on Heritage Day, from 1pm until 3pm.

Entrance to the exhibition is free and open to the public