Truth, or some other abstraction

Dr. Zoe Whitley curates the exhibition “Truth, or some other abstraction” at this year’s FNB JoburgArtFair.

The 2017 iteration of the FNB JoburgArtFair marks a milestone: a decade of sustained engagement with contemporary artistic practice. This has meant showcasing the work of artists not only from Johannesburg, but those based throughout South Africa, across the continent and beyond. Through the successive curated programmes of talks, screenings, performances and special projects the FNB JoburgArtFair has stimulated new paths of public engagement and given a platform to numerous artists to connect to audiences who may not otherwise visit galleries, museums, artist studios or creative workshops.

The small exhibition is titled “Truth, or some other abstraction”. It’s a line borrowed from Doris Lessing’s first novel The Grass is Singing. In one passage, the author discusses how we create and recreate (or fail to create) “pictures of” ourselves, and present that picture outwardly. To that end, the special project is intended to acknowledge but a few of the numerous artists from the previous generation who not only share with us who they are, but in so doing, allow us to see ourselves and to understand our shared histories more clearly.

Dr. Zoe Whitley
She is a Research Curator at Tate Modern in London. She co-wrote Tate’s revised Africa acquisitions strategy and researches contemporary artists and art practices across the African continent and the African diaspora. She is co-curator of Tate Modern’s 2017 exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power (12 July – 22 October 2017). Among numerous published texts, Zoe has contributed to the South Africa pavilion’s 57th Venice Biennale catalogue. Based in London, previous posts include Curator, Contemporary British Art at Tate Britain (2013-2015), guest curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem (2013-2014) and Curator, Contemporary Programmes at the V&A (2005-2013).

FNB JoburgArtFair 7 – 10 September, 2017 Sandton Convention Center

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