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Tuesday, September 29, 2015

MEMORY CARD SEA POWER



 (Design of the broadsheet by Francois Rey of Monday Design)

The KZNSA has recently opened a new exhibition by Dave Southwood in its Main Gallery. The exhibition features the Durban launch and sale of the eponymous broadsheet newspaper charting the lives of Tanzanian Stowaways living near the harbour in Cape Town, South Africa.

Memory Card Sea Power asks questions about 'place' and its inhabitants, in this case the foreshore region of Cape Town's city bowl. The series documents the lives of a group of Tanzanian stowaways who live amongst the N1 Highway infrastructure in Cape Town. Responsibility for this group of men, living without passports or travel documentation, is not claimed by South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs, nor by shipping agents, nor by the government of Tanzania. The group resists the help of NGOs. The place they inhabit is similarly interstitial; in the words of Nic Coetzer this ‘place’ “is an accident, the consequence of other intentions.”

Newspapers, prints and posters will be on sale.


It was shown in Tennessee in late 2014 (http://gallery.sewanee.edu/?p=754) and an alternative version featuring Heidegger was presented at the UIA Conference in 2014 (http://www.uia2014durban.org/resources/UIA2014Abstracts.pdf)

It was shown at Wolff Architects in Cape Town and Fourthwall Books in Johannesburg. In August 2015 it made up part of the Athens Photo Festival.

Memory Card Sea Power runs in the KZNSA’s Main Gallery until October 18. The KZNSA Gallery is situated at 166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood, in Durban. More information on 031 277 1703, fax 031 201 8051 or cell 082 220 0368 or visit www.kznsagallery.co.za