Samanthole Arts Foundation

The Human Rights Day, on 21 March would be meaningless if children and the youth were not included in celebrating this important day for every citizen, for it is a day enshrined in the Constitution of South Africa for a restoration of human dignity to our people. I amen thralled by the gesture of the municipality to extend the invitation for me speak as part of the Human Rights Day Art Exhibition celebrations. Worth mentioning here, is the ability and resilience of the council to include the arts, through the young people’s exhibition, to commemorate the occasion. The gesture brings hope not only for the arts to prosper but for the society to reflect on its own socio-political make-up. The City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) is fast becoming a leader in arts development and youth empowerment initiatives around Gauteng Province with one of the most important visual arts competitions, Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Awards, for the young and upcoming visual artists and the Ekurhuleni Arts Devel

“Art is about a journey, an exploration of something that is new and relevant to me” say Sue Martin, a South African artist working primarily in mixed media and contemporary styled prints and paintings. This body of work layers oil paint onto translucent handmade paper into which vintage maps and archival images and plants are embedded. Martin is exhibiting her 32 pieces of painting varying in size at Toto Gallery. AFRICA TABULA, Oil pigment on hand made paper with embedded map, 84 x 58,  In Sue Martin’s work, we see a primary concern of movement and migration, with the impact of the so called civilization upon them, with the African workers in the fields and traders moving about, with laborers, servants and location. She maps for us, journey of migrants in their exodus quest for better life. Her work becomes a very interesting embodiment that questions ‘original citizenry’ which in this day and age does not exist. People have, over a period of time, belonged to universe rat

The Meeting at The Market Theatre, Newtown Johannesburg ‘The Meeting’ defined as ‘a situation when two or more people meet, by chance or arrangement’- this is truly a meeting not to be missed by theatre goers around Johannesburg. Penned by American playwright, Jeff Stetson and directed by the Artistic Director at Market Theatre, James Ngcobo. The Meeting is a thought-provoking masterpiece which does not only celebrate the Black History Month, but is also affording humankind a reflection and retrospection of the self. Based on a fictional meeting between the two towering figures, Malcolm X (played by Brendon Daniels) , the Islamic Minister and a lawyer and Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr (played by Aubrey Poo), the civil rights activist and minister, in the African-American history of the 20 th Century, it fits well for The Market Theatre to play host of this historical production, for it has become an institutional mecca of  storytelling in Southern Africa. Black History s

The setup of the play is very unusual, even to the eye accustomed to theatre appreciation, in that there are two lights dancing lazily atop – with three screens installed above the stage. The audience filled the recently named Laager Theatre in the honour of Mannie Manin, the co-founder of The Market Theatre. When Swallows Cry is a stage piece written by Mike Van Graan and Lesedi Job makes a directorial debut. This play takes on the shape brilliance – fiercely scripted, luminously performed and intensely directed. Image Taken from The Market Theatre Website When Swallows Cry is a stage piece that tells different stories from three different continents. Here you are confronted with turbo-charged realities most Africans face when traveling to Europe and America, where they are subjected to ethnic profiling in the little room insider border control, here you are able to witness grown up people, especially from Africa, being interrogated to tears, whereas Europeans and Americ

The Village Square brought Southern Africa’s multicultural disciplines of the arts together Medu Promotions in association with The Market Theatre presented The Village Square, a multilingual and multicultural collaborative project that encompassed different disciplines of the arts created by South Africa’s most diverse African contemporary and African classical musicians, composers and poets, directed by Tlokwe Sehume. This theatrical piece is a celebration of what is left of our indigenous knowledge system and cultural make up. Tlokwe Sehume, Image taken from the website The Village Square is the ensemble of language, culture, and African wisdom, original musical and ritual practices by Africans. It presented what I call ‘the human face’ that the world should see about us as a country. Sehume and his team brought forth the beauty of a classical offering. “The Village Square is a body of work that started back in 2003,” says Tlokwe Sehume during the panel discussion a

Opened as the first production on The Market Theatre 2017 programme, The House of Truth has already distinguished itself as the South African contemporary classical theatre piece. Written by SiphiwoMahala, based on one of the towering figures of black South African black writers and journos of the 50’s, Can Themba. The play is directed by Vanessa Cooke and performed by veteran actor, SelloMaakekaNcube. This play opened with a bang for its media opening night with high profile politicians and public figures filling the Barney Simon Theatre to the brim. The House of Truth, a title from one of Can Themba’s short stories, is a collection of Themba’s life and work. It stages the most significant and mundane, contrast of beauty and ugliness, black and white, curl of oppression and freedom, monochrome of religion and politics. In this play, SiphiwoMahala navigates Can Themba’s world with dashes of absurdity and nostalgia. Mahala doesn’t only juxtaposes the past with the pre

  Last week I was shocked from sad news on the passing of the legendary South African artist, Judith Mason. She was one of my art senior mentors and last message from email she sent me during my fourth solo exhibition in September was this: "You've got it. kid! I think the Heroine Heads are just terrific and the Rain Queen especially is magnificent. Sorry I am so seldom in touch. Terribly busy and have been rather ill. I am going to check out your blog site. Congrats on what you are doing. Love, Judy." Self-Portrait of  the artist I have known Judith Mason since 2002, when by chance I visited Johannesburg during school holidays. My mom used to work for her daughter, Tamar Mason. That winter of 2002, Judith took me and my twin sister Mamogolo to Joburg Zoo for the first time and that is where I realised her love for animals which I later saw being reflected in most of her works. Another chance encounter with Judith was when I was at the art college when she came