Samanthole Arts Foundation

You Fool How Can The Sky Fly, Pic Credit: Supplied Soft music is playing in the background, the platform on which this play is being delivered is a thrust theatre stage known by its arrangement which consists of being surrounded by audience on the three sides, antiquated brown sofa is displayed lazily, with cushions grazing unassertive on it and a pair of black shoes graced the floor. The open stage allows for chairs to be planted erratically here and there. At the brims of the stage, there are books, installation of old books made with the untold juxtaposition of what the play will unfold. Slight above the stage, set and costume designers; Karabo Mtshali, Nthabiseng Mokone and Nthabiseng Malaka must have had fun in designing the set because there is a visual sound of chaos in the arrangement of chairs and how the screen made of a bed sheet cover is hanging onto the fence, as if the parliamentarians were on some beef or the committee on certain portfolio just finished roasting t

As you walk into the Mannie Manin Theatre, at the Market Theatre in Newtown, Johannesburg, you are taken on an expedition of the late Brenda Fassie’s music. Fassie was a larger-than-life singer who had several nicknames. Her fans usually called her ‘MaBrrr’, but some referred to her as ‘Madonna of the Townships’ or ‘the Queen of African Pop because of her stimulating stage act, offstage frolics and vibrant personality meant that she regularly appeared on the pages of local newspapers, just like the Madonna of America who was a female outlandish pop singer who used flashy shock to promote herself as a brand, so is Fassie in Africa. The preset music is Brenda’s hit song Istraight Lendaba which was released in 1992 and m ost of her albums became multi-platinum sellers in South Africa. Here are some lyrics from her song I straight Lenda   Indaba yam istraight  Ayifuni ruler  Kanti wena ung'number bani  Andifuni naks! No doubt that she was "f ierce,

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