THIS LOVE THING: A NEW AGE LOVE STORY

An unsettling story exposing what could go wrong with social media in the wrong hands. (Review by Vera Alexander)

This Love Thing: A New Age Love Story is a book in paperback written by Khulekani Magubane.

Three university IT students are developing a dating app as their final research product. The all-girl team have their own romantic issues and have high hopes that the app will at least help them swim in the waters of love, if not help them to find THE one.

One of the ladies is very suspicious of what her boyfriend is getting up to while out of the country and inserts some spy code into the app without the knowledge of the rest of the team.

The project is well-received and people queue up to test it, little realising that their secrets could be published on a social platform.

This novel is an easy read and comes complete with a villain who is out to make a quick buck. It should appeal to a wide audience as it has intrigue and deals with romantic issues all bound up in that fascinating and popular field – Social Media.

(Khulekani Magubane)

The author, Khulekani Magubane is a well-established Cape Town journalist who respects his KZN roots. He has woven an unsettling story exposing what could go wrong with social media in the wrong hands.

The cover illustration was done by Namhla Sithole and photography by Lotte Manicom. Paperback reference: ISBN 978-1-4309-0876-0, e-book reference: ASIN: B07P6WVLSD

Both formats are published by umSinsi Press. For more information see www.dancingpencils.co.za - Vera Alexander

SIYABONGA NGUBANE: THE SUFFERING OF THE PEOPLE

(“Mama” by Siyabonga Ngubane)

The Suffering of the People opens in the Schreiner Gallery of the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg on March 31, 2019. The opening takes place at 11h00 and the Opening Speaker will be Dr Kathy Arbuckle.

Siyabonga Ngubane is a young artist who is passionate about making linoprints. He draws directly onto the lino and then carves out intricate designs in different textures. He is a quiet person who thinks deeply about life, and is interested in people and their reactions. He is also grateful to his mother and grandmother who taught him good values in life. They both are deeply religious supporters of the Christian faith. However, Siyabonga is tolerant of all religions. Other religious groups, such as Muslims, Zionist, Shembe, Buddhist etc, are also represented in his works.

In 2018, Ngubane completed an honours course in printmaking at the Centre for Visual Art at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg. He will be Artist-In-Residence from April 9 to 12 at the Tatham.

He will also conduct two workshops on Tuesdays (May 7 & 14) where he will share his printmaking skills and show participants that Linocut is an easy-to-learn method for making prints that requires only a small amount of space and just a few tools and materials. Once you've learned the basics you can easily do this at home. Join this fun printing workshop

The Suffering of the People runs until May 19 at 17h00. The Tatham Art Gallery is situated opposite the Town Hall in Chief Albert Luthuli Street, Pietermaritzburg. It is open from Tuesdays to Sundays from 10h00 to 17h00. Café Tatham is open on Saturdays. Safe parking with a car guard available. More information on 033 392 2801 or visit www.tatham.org.za

SEASONED TIDES: CORAL SPENCER

(Coral Spencer at work)

Deadline for RSVP: March 28, 2019

Coral Spencer will be having a solo exhibition titled Seasoned Tides held at Eye4Art in Sunningdale Shopping centre between April 3 and 17, 2019.

The opening night will be on April 3, starting at 18h00 accompanied by Vrede en Lust wine farm hosting a wine tasting and delicious eats.

There will also be a raffle consisting of three prizes, first being an original Coral Spencer painting. The raffle is to help raise funds for Eye4Arts NPO Intellectual Property Studio.

RSVP to book your spot before March 28, 2019 to email: michelle@eye4art.co.za or phone 083 951 3747

TSWELA PELE EXHIBITION

Tswela Pele is an exhibition of selected works from the Art Bank of South Africa’s first contemporary visual art collection purchased in the 2018/2019 year. It will run in the Durban Art Gallery from March 19 to May 12, 2019

The 60 artworks on show represent artists from seven provinces in South Africa. The featured artworks explore a variety of themes from everyday experiences and life patterns to the existential, from the male transculturalism to the female response to social conditioning and examination of the patriarchal cultural construct.

The Art Bank of South Africa is a national programme of the Department of Arts and Culture as part of the Mzansi Golden Economy (MGE) strategy implementation and is hosted by the National Museum Bloemfontein, an agency of the Department of Arts and Culture. The vision of the Art Bank is to promote, foster and stimulate a vibrant market for the collection of South African contemporary visual art. The Art Bank of South Africa is tasked with purchasing artworks from South African artists, particularly that of emerging artists in order to lease and sell the artworks to South African government departments, private companies and private individuals.

Durban Art Gallery is located at 2nd Floor, Durban Art Gallery and is open to the Monday to Saturday: from 08h30 to 16h00, Sundays and Public Holidays: 10h00 to 16h00 and is closed on Good Friday.

For more information contact Durban Art Gallery on 031 311 2264 or Jabu Mngwengwe on email:Jabulile.Mngwengwe@durban.gov.za

For comments about the artbankSA, contact Nonto Sheryl Msomi on artbank@nasmus.co.za or 051 447 9609.