ISSUES OF CULTURE, IDENTITY, AND RELIGION

Issues of Culture, Identity, and Religion: Works from the Permanent Collection is currently running in the Main Exhibition Room of the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg.

This exhibition of artworks from the Gallery’s permanent collection was chosen to challenge notions of prejudice and stereotyping in the viewer and to illustrate the artists’ concern with them. The selection also aims at starting a discourse between the viewer and the artwork, expanding on issues presented.

Some of the artworks on display fall into the school curriculum, but they are also valuable for tackling concerns about prevailing socio-political conditions.

These conditions include societal differences and similarities, topics which confront youth in post-apartheid South Africa. The continuous search for ‘who am I’ and ‘where do I belong’ has never been more relevant in this country with its notion of being a ‘Rainbow Nation’. As a result, the exhibition challenges the viewers to come to terms with their unity in diversity and the present liberal stance adopted towards culture, identity and religion in South Africa.

Issues of Culture, Identity, and Religion: Works from the Permanent Collection runs in the Tatham Art Gallery until July 8.