African artwork not displayed for over 20 years will be on show at this year’s Hidden Treasures exhibition at the National Gallery in the Company’s Garden.
In commemorating Heritage Month, Iziko Museums of South Africa, in partnership with the HCI Foundation and Business and Arts South Africa, will host the tenth in_herit festival from September 18 to 24.
The exhibition will feature 100 art pieces from a variety of African cultures.
Curator Carol Bishop said the artwork was unearthed following an audit of the museum’s more than 3 000-piece African Art collection.
“The name Hidden Treasures was chosen because many of these artworks haven’t been on display for over 20 years. Each piece was carefully chosen, and their relationship and position to each other, in order to tell a story,” said Bishop.
She said because the museum had done a careful audit of artwork in their possession, many priceless works had come back into the spotlight.
Hidden Treasures will be open to the public along with multimedia exhibition The African Choir 1891 Re-Imagined, which tells the story of a 16-member choir that toured Great Britain and the US from 1891 to 1893.
The choir was never recorded but references survived which a composer, with the aid of 15 singers from Cape Town, reimagined in 2015, and this can be heard during the exhibition.
Iziko Museums of South Africa’s director of education, Wayne Alexander, said they wanted to instil a spirit of curiosity in young and old.
“Our museums run daily programmes and we have up to 150000 people visiting our sites daily.
‘‘We have our mobile museum on a week-long outreach programme, travelling to disadvantaged communities where they can see that we are preserving their heritage and their history,” said Alexander.
The annual festival offers free entry to Iziko museums throughout the week, with the Castle of Good Hope and Groot Constantia free only on Heritage Day, when the Planetarium is half-price.
For regular updates on events, news and new exhibitions visit www.iziko.org.za or join their Facebook page.