Double Bill exhibition at William Humphrey Museum features seasoned artists and a new generation of visual artists in conversation

By Edward Tsumele

Visual artist and curator Happy Dhlame is full of praises for the William Humphrey Museum in the Northern Cape where he is co-curating an exhibition titled Double Bill with the gallery’s chief curator ChepapeMakgato, which sees seasoned artists, showing their works side by side with the new generation of South African artists.

The current crop of visual artists include Nompumelelo Tshabalala, Lerato Mutau, Asanda Kupa, Minenkulu Ngoyi, DathiniMzayiya, ChepapeMakgato, Happy Dhlame and Laurence Chikwa from Zambia, while among the old generation of participating artists are  Sokhaya Charles Nkosi, Rochester Mafafo, Cyril Manganye, Vincent Baloyi, the late David Koloane, Pfofessor Maake, Domenic Shabangu. 

Organised by Swaliga Foundation Africa and BeCoCo, the event is set to create a dialogue between veterans and current crop of artists who have been working very hard to uplift their names in the South African Arts Sector.

Double Bill was previously held at a farm gallery South Africa Johannesburg, before heading to the Northern Cape, where it is showing till end of August.

In an interview with CITYLIFE/ARTS, Dhlame said that the way the museum is run in that part of the country is something that other public galleries must take a leaf from as far as the overall presentation of the exhibition was handled by gallery staff and management.

“Even the building housing the museum is well maintained, giving it a professional look, and therefore giving one a sense that exhibitions that are held there are given the appropriate attention. What also inspired me is the collection the museum has. The museum has a rich collection of art works by South African artists, and if all public galleries in South Africa maintained the same level of professionalism and treatment of their collections, South African artists and art would be in good space. This makes one to wonder what the other public galleries are doing with their budgets for collecting art works as there appears to be nothing happening when it comes to collecting new works,” Dhlame wondered.

Dhlame urges other public galleries to take a serious leaf from the William Humphrey Museum, which also has a writing residency programme, which was launched during the opening of Double Bill, and so two young writers from the local Sol Plaatje University given an opportunity to respond to the collection of the museum.

Dhlame is currently working on a body of new works having received financial support from the National Arts Council of South Africa.