Mbombela Art Gallery had a successful official opening of the “Exploring Southern African Consciousness exhibition” last Monday evening. Thirteen Yebo artists from Swaziland were present at the opening along with representatives from Swaziland Tourism Authority who had sponsored their transport. The exhibition featured work by 30 artists from Swaziland and Mpumalanga and was curated by Yebo Art Gallery and Mbombela Art Gallery. The show runs till Saturday the 12th of November.
MMC for Community Services, Councillor Siwela officially opened the exhibition and made a speech.” The relationship that the Municipality has with the Kingdom of Swaziland started many years ago. Firstly, the relationship was established in what was known as the “twinning agreement of the four cities”, which are Mbombela, Matola in Mozambique, Mbabane in Swaziland and Nkomazi. Twinning around sport development and recreational activities became the main purpose of the agreement. Secondly and most recent, the relationship has been further strengthened by what is now known as “the Umsebe Accord”, which its goal, amongst others, is to promote cultural exchange and business and local economic development amongst the four cities.
Today we are assembling in this Mbombela Art Gallery in yet another cultural exchange between the Mbombela Art Gallery and Yebo Art Gallery of Swaziland. While this exchange has more of an artistic element and is conducted outside of the formal Umsebe Accord, however it is a cultural experience which is of significance to the relationship that already exists between the City of Mbombela and the Kingdom of Swaziland. We are therefore grateful to be hosting Yebo Art Gallery. This is just a beginning of a long walk to ensure that the cultural exchange between Mbombela and Swaziland is intensified.
“This art exhibition presents an opportunity for artists of Mbombela together with the artists from Swaziland to share their creative talents and skills in art and craft production. I have been informed that 30 artists are participating in this exhibition for the week starting from this evening. I have also been made to understand that these artists participating in this exhibition explored a variety of concepts through different mediums of art work in relation to the theme of the exhibition which is: “Exploring Southern African Consciousness”.
The exhibition therefore presents a platform for the artists not only to explore but to express their understanding of the challenges facing the Southern African region. You would agree with me that over time the region has been clouded with increasing levels of poverty, environmental disasters, economic decline, conflicts and greed, a lack of true spiritual knowledge, as well as a decay in ancient wisdom, nonetheless, all these challenges have brought about a growing wave of awareness that we need a socio-economic renewal in the entire Southern African Development Community (SADC), if we are to deal effectively with the challenges we face as a region”
The Programme Director of the event was Mr Themba Mona, Manager: Arts and Culture for the City of Mbombela Municipality. Message of Support done by Ms Ilona Petzer, Chairperson for the Lowveld Association of Arts. Yebo Director Aleta Armstrong and represented artist Khulekani Msweli also made a speech thanking Mbombela for their warm welcome and collaboration in the arts. Yebo Gallery invited the Mpumalanga artists to join Swazi artists when they have their next exhibition at the MTN Bushfire Festival.
The Swazi artists had an opportunity to meet the Mpumalanga artists and network together. Mbombela had invited a large cultural dance group to perform and welcome the Swazi artists, the group danced through the gallery and at the entrance and thrilled the audience. Afterwards there was a buffet of refreshments for all the visitors.
Aleta Armstrong “Yeboartists were overwhelmed by the warm welcome we received from Mbombela! We wish to thank them all and especially their curator Marietjie Henning. It was also a great opportunity for our group of represented artists as we stayed overnight and had time to talk with other artists, explore Mbombela and just be together having fun! A big thanks also to STA and their fantastic team who provided transport for the whole event.”
The artists who attended the opening and exhibited are Khulekani Msweli, Mbongeni Dlamini, Pete Armstrong, Sunshine Nxumalo, Thabo Lukhele, Ray Berman, Tony Marshak, Thabo Sibeko, Aleta Armstrong, Mesuli Mamba, Mfanfikile Mndzebele, Dane Armstrong, Fela Dlamini, Phillip Mdluli and Phindile Mamba.