.jpg)
The new Arts of Africa and Global Souths Arts Lounge and RAW Spot Gallery opened on 13 June 2018 at Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网.
The SARChI chair programme was established at Rhodes by Professor Ruth Simbao in January 2016, and focuses on re-situating the discourse of the arts of Africa in the global south. It aims to strengthen the role of Africa-based artists and scholars in this creation of knowledge through postgraduate training, a publishing support network, publishing workshops, a residency programme for artists and writers, and participation in a publishing consortium.
Converted from a triple garage, the RAW Spot Gallery functions as a studio and gallery space for the RAW (Residencies for Artists and Writers) programme. RAW was first established by Simbao in 2014, and has been supported by the Mellon supra-national programme, Publishing and Research of the South: Positioning Africa (PROSPA), since 2017.
The innaugural exhibition of the RAW Spot Gallery was “Return” by Professor Adepeju Layiwola from the 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 of Lagos in Nigeria. Layiwola, an artist and scholar known internationally for her work on restitution, spent two months at Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 as an artist in residence. She worked closely with Dr Patrick Oloko, a writer in residence, who will be publishing on Layiwola’s work.
Honouring Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网’s Distinguished Professor Tebello Nyokong, Layiwola represented the world-renowned researcher in a four-panel artwork titled, “Dialoguing Sarahs”.
MFA student, Wallen Mapondera, produced a chalk drawing in the foyer of the research space. During the National Arts Festival this space will be activated as Arts Lounge Africa, a platform for live art, artists’ conversations and video art screenings.