Maungo: A 35 Year Celebration of Bag Factory

ABOUT THE SHOW

If we understand the Triangle Network (1982) and Thupelo Workshops (1985) as the seeds for the founding of the Bag Factory in 1991, today we mark the maturation of this seminal institution by gathering in a group show the fruits of its harvest – “maungo” in Setswana. The current artists at the Bag Factory represent different generations, geographies and gestures. From a founding member to arrivals as recent as last year; from nearby townships to the northern reaches of the Atlantic Ocean; with a broad range of practices represented from oil painting to collage, sculpture to pottery and all manner of interdisciplinary modes. The collision of their differences in one artistic community reflects the aspirations of the founders while also making tangible the ethos of shared learning and development that has sustained Bag against all odds.

The conceptualisation of Maungo came together in formal studio visits as well as in interstitial moments – brief exchanges in the corridors, while a kettle boiled, or during a smoke break in the sun. As each artist revealed their current preoccupations, projects sitting on the proverbial back burner and aspirant experiments with the unexpected, the cross pollination of ideas surfaced a kinetic impetus that began to animate the show. Johannesburg as a reluctant muse for Bag artists remains steadfast as embodied in the intergenerational conversation between David Koloane, Kagiso Pat Mautloa, Candice Kramer, Richard ‘Specs’ Ndimande and Levy Pooe. Their varied vantage points and material choices collapse the boundary between the gallery and the city.

For Gail Behrmann, Sharlene Khan, and Tshepiso Moropa the layered meanings bound in poetry, myth and fables shared in text or oral traditions formed the rhizomatic grounding of their inquiry – with them working out the complexities in oil, photography and collage, respectively. Nearby, the transfigurative qualities of memory are suggested by Joe Turpin and Erla S. Haraldsdóttir’s realist works capturing particular moments in time. Together these works play with perception – inviting viewers to contemplate what is presented, what is obscured and how this is achieved.

The salon walls presented by LL Editions exemplify their commitment to craftsmanship and collaboration with emerging and established artists. Fittingly, on this occasion, they present works by Diana Hyslop, Koloane, Nelson Makamo, Colbert Mashile, Setlamorago Mashilo, Mautloa, Grace Mokalapa, and Usha Seejarim, artists who have been part of the vibrant Bag community. 

Maungo, rather than signifying a unified theme, points to the Bag Factory community’s practice of continuously cultivating emerging artists, curators, writers and audiences by harvesting and reseeding its knowledge and experience. This exhibition captures in a capsule the vivacity and creative courage of this community. The message here, if any, is of vitality and perseverance that symbiotically nurtures the individual and the collective within and beyond the bounds of the Bag Factory building.