Ifa Lethu
Foundation, the country’s largest heritage art repatriation and creative
entrepreneurial development organization, has announced its 2014 20 Year
Celebration Programme.
“2014 is
a significant year in South Africa’s road to freedom,” says Ifa Lethu CEO Dr
Narissa Ramdhani. “Since 2005, Ifa Lethu has been advocating both the heritage
of oppressed art during the apartheid years by repatriating lost township
artworks from that era, then taking our collection across the globe. Our
exhibitions – held in many countries including Australia, UK, France – have
travelled both the country and the globe. In recent years we have been invited
to take our collections to London for the Olympics, to leading global auction
house Bonhams, and most recently to Nantes for the French/South African
Season.”
“During
apartheid, local black artists could not exhibit their works as they were seen
as ‘protest art’ during the period 1960 to the 1980s. Some were lucky enough to
go into exile and many became famous artists in their own right, with their
work demanding very high prices on the global art scene. The majority of
painters, sculptors, musicians and poets could not escape and they struggled to
not only practice their craft but to make even a meagre living. They were
banned from exhibiting, their work was perceived to be of no value, but they
produced an important record of the struggle of the time and the conditions in
the townships. It is thanks to foreigners who visited our shores during these
years that their works were purchased and taken out of the country to tell
their stories. To date, and thanks to generous donors, over 400 of their arts
have been repatriated by Ifa Lethu and feature in our Collections.”
In
recent years, Ifa Lethu’s focus has broadened to include the development
element aligned to the National Development Plan and Mzanzi’s Golden Economy. This
has resulted in the development of creative entrepreneurs and successful
employment creation for South Africa’s creative practitioners.
“Recently
we have taken our enterprise development
programme to rural communities via our mobile ‘Creative Hands’
workshops, set up permanent business incubators, and focused on the crafters in
small villages and put them through the same training as our young artists,”
says Ramdhani. “Their works may be purchased from us or at various airport
shops.”
Additionally,
and with the help of the Wits Origins Centre, the Foundation started a unique
fossil casting training programme which has been running for the past three
years. “There is a world-wide shortage of fossil casters, and our graduates
have gone on to be employed at institutions such as Wits, the Ditsong Museums,
the Cradle of Human Kind, or to set up their own businesses such as ‘Fossils
for Africa’, doing work that produces casts to be sold at places of hominoid
interest,” she says.
The
plans for the 20 Years of Freedom campaign include:
A
National Art competition for schools in South Africa to allow young learners to
produce high end artwork on the required theme.
The winner will be taken to London and will be allowed a guest
exhibition at Bonhams.
Production
of 20 Year Signature Craft Product - A national competition for design students
to design such a product. The actual
product will then be crafted by our rural crafters for distribution.
“Plans
are well in place and we’ll be announcing more details as we progress, as well
on our Facebook page and website,” concludes Ramdhani.
More
information from Dr Narissa Ramdhani, CEO, Ifa Lethu Foundation on 012 346 2965.
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