Ubulungiswa/Justice Collaboration video work 2015
Channel: Artcollab studio
Date: 2021-05-12

Ubulungiswa/Justice is a collaboration between twenty-three artists from different disciplines.

Ubulungiswa/Justice was first shown at the Michaelis School of Fine Arts 2015 Graduate exhibition followed by an exhibition in Alexander JHB, as part of the Moboneng Township Art Experience in 2018 and at the AVA Gallery in Cape Town. The work was also shown at the Chale Wote Festival in Ghana in 2018.

This collaborative artwork was created in 2015 in response to the removal of the Cecil John Rhodes statue at the University of Cape Town, the #RhodesMustFall and Open Stellenbosch Movements, combined with the re-eruption of xenophobic attacks and the proliferation of racially fueled discourse in South Africa.

Through the process of collaborating we have examined the concept of justice and explored the struggles with our personal and collective histories. We attempted to collectively elicit the difficult conversations and perspectives that we felt needed to emerge around social justice and power through a collaborative multidisciplinary approach. Through a process of workshops and discussions the collaborators co-created the work in an attempt to confront the nebulous, often uncomfortable experiences of the past and present that we are struggling to reconcile.

The idea of problematising individual authorship is the central tenant around which all collective practice revolves. This collaboration uses the collective authorial voice as an artistic strategy to shift paradigms of thinking in relation to institutional, political and ideological structures. The reality of shared authorship and collective practice is underpinned by the practical and ideological functions of shared value and authorial renunciation.

Collaborators include: Anwar McWhite, Clinton Osbourn, Damien Schumann, Damien Morrison, Deborah Weber, Elgin Rust, Eric Menyo, Gina Waldman, Jolene Cartmill, Kwanele Dyasi, Loyiso Botha, Lazola Sikhutshwa, Luntu Vumazonke, Luvo Mjayezi, Maileshi Setti, Mandisile Keva, Margaret Stone, Michelle Liao, Nikki Froneman, Roxanne Dalton, Vuyolwethu Adams, Vuyokazi Magobiyane, Xolisa Pezisa.