Guns & Rain, the birth of a visionary gallery representing socio-political narratives of southern Africa

The gallery is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary through a group exhibition and a programme of events at its Parkhurst home.

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

I first met anthropologist-tuned gallerist Julie Taylor 10 years ago at the Turbine Art Fair, at the fair’s original home in Newtwon, of which its name emanates from. She had a booth there representing artists associated with Guns & Rain.

Two things struck me: The name of the gallery, which is unusual and the fact that she told me that her gallery was an online entity representing contemporary artists from the southern African region. My curiosity was particularly sparked by the fact that here was an art gallery that operated online. At the time there wre either few or none that traded that way that I knew of.

Certainly not in South Africa. Here was someone who was pioneering a new path in representing African artists using a clearly new way of dealing in art. But when I got to know a bit more about her background, I then understood her rationale behind her business model. She had just left a corporate job as communications director for Google in Sub-Sahara Africa to start an art business. In other words, she was quite clued in the use of technology to communicate, and therefore was leveraging on that to represent artists from Africa to a potentially huge global market.

But then in 2019, she opened a physical gallery in Parkhurst in addition to the online gallery, affording art collectors and art enthusiasts in Johannesburg the privilege and opportunity view art in the gallery in person. I have since been a frequent visitor to most of its exhibition openings, and have had the privilege to view some of the most interesting art created by artists from southern Africa, telling mainly social-political narratives, the stories of the human condition from the counties where they are based.

Ever since Its humble beginnings as an online gallery, Guns & Rain has expanded in scope, representing several artists from such countries as Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and as far as Nigeria in West Africa. Guns & Rain today is also a frequent common feature at the country’s four art fairs, Latitudes, FNB Art Joburg, Turbine Art Fair and Investec Cape Town Art fair. Those that have had the privilege to visit the 1:54 in London, have of course witnessed what this gallery offers in terms of artists representation there. This is because Guns& Rain is a regular exhibitor there.

Recently, on a Saturday, I found myself at the gallery’s 10th anniversary celebration, and was struck by the fact that I was introduced to some of the most interesting artists from southern Africa and their varied art practice through this gallery ver the past 10 years. For example, a highly talented deaf artist from Zimbabwe called Raymond Fuyana. His work gives a viewer quite an immersive experience.

I first saw his work for the fast time in 2022 during a group exhibition in the gallery, and was quite impressed by his workmanship, a truly skilful painter with a sharp observatory mind that captures even the tiniest landscape details, such as trees, their leaves and stem contours. I was happy that he is included in this group exhibition that is currently on, and was there on Saturday as the exhibition opened.
Fuyana however is sharing the gallery space with other artists that over the past 10 years have been represented by the gallery. These are Adrian Fortuin, Aneesah Girie, Ann Gollifer, Ayobola Kekere-Ekun, Bev Butkow, Bougaard, Hannah Macfarlane, Hedwig Barry, Isheanesu Dondo, Nicola Brandt, Princia Matungulu, Thina Dube, Tuli Mekondjo and Zenaéca Singh.

“This month marks ten brave and magnificent years since Guns & Rain was born in its original guise as one of the first online art platforms on the continent. Since then, we are proud to have supported over 70 artists through more than 50 exhibitions and 32 art fairs, spanning 17 cities in 13 countries. We couldn’t have done it without you – our supporters around the world – nor of course without our incredible artists, who hail from 7 different African countries. 

If you’re in Johannesburg, please join us to celebrate this special occasion! If you’re across the oceans, we’d love to hear from you: send your greetings or memories here. View the Catalogue and look out for lots of great content on Instagram in the coming days. In the year ahead, we’ll be hosting a birthday programme, ranging from exhibitions and studio visits to online talks, so look out for the line-up, as well as special features in our newsletter and on Instagram,” says Taylor.
The gallery has a line up of events marking its 10th anniversary for the rest of the years.

Bev Butkow | Studio Dinner | 20 April
“The next event in our 10th Birthday programme:  Please join us on Saturday 20 April for an atmospheric rooftop sunset overlooking the city, followed by dinner in Bev’s studio in Ferreirasdorp. Space is limited.
Taylor told CITYLIFE/ARTS its artists who were featured at the recent Investec Cape Town Art fair, did well with regard to collectors interest.

“Investec Cape Town Art Fair | Thank You. A big thank you to all those who visited our two booths in Cape Town, featuring Adrian Fortuin in the SOLO section and Hedwig Barry, Princia Matungulu and Zenaeca Singh in the Main section. The fair saw an extraordinary 30,000 visitors this year and we had a fantastic response to the work of our artists, all of whom were present,” she says.
Those who were part of the exhibition were given an impressive and varied artistic immersion as the exhibition is a sum of u Africa’s socio-political narratives on walls. And on the floor (there are sculptural works as well)

.Guns & Rain is at 5, 3rd Avenue, Parkhurst.