Beauty
and its Beasts, the exhibition currently running at
the Durban Art Gallery has been extended until July 30.
The exhibition raises the question: Has the
female stereotype changed?
What’s in a stereotype? It’s a label to
enhance or reduce an ego, and it’s rarely one’s own choice. The famous art
collective ‘Guerilla Girls’ describe a stereotype as: a box, usually too small
that a girl gets jammed into and an archetype as a pedestal usually too high
that a girl gets lifted onto.
The collections of the Durban Art Gallery
have been excavated to unearth works that speak directly to the evolution of
the female stereotype. The exhibition examines how the stereotype was created
and how artists have either perpetuated the phenomenon or subverted it.
Works borrowed from other art collections
include Mary Sibande’s Cry Havoc and
Zanele Muholi’s Condoms & Feet –
contemporary pieces that sit provocatively alongside Hubert von Herkomer’s Queen Victoria.
The exhibition will be on display at the
Durban Art Gallery until July 30, 2017. Gallery hours: Monday to Saturday 08h30
to 16h00 and Sundays from 11h00 to 16h00.
The Durban
Art Gallery
is situated on the second floor of the Durban City Hall,
entrance in Anton Lembede (formerly Smith) Street opposite the Playhouse. More
information on 031 311 2262/6.
Posts
