Sam Nhlengethwa, Fatigue 1996. Tate. © reserved.
13 rooms in Artist and Society
This display highlights the artistic networks and informal educational spaces that flourished across Africa during the second half of the 20th century
In 1985, South African artist and anti-apartheid activist David Koloane co-founded the Thupelo Workshops, which in Sotho means ‘to teach by example’. Inspired by his participation in a Triangle International workshop in New York, Koloane helped establish a model that spread across the continent. Over the next two decades, more than twenty countries, including Mozambique, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal, developed workshops as part of the wider Triangle Network. Often initiated and led by local artists, the workshops created opportunities to make links across borders, share ideas and respond to social and political change. They built upon an existing tradition of alternative education spaces that spread throughout Africa to counter colonial education.
Founded by British philanthropist Robert Loder and sculptor Anthony Caro, The Triangle International Workshops began in Upstate New York in 1982. They encouraged experimentation, transnational exchange and the exploration of collective practice. They developed into an international network involving more than 4,000 artists across Africa, South Asia and Latin America.
Working across sculpture, printmaking and painting, the artists in this display demonstrate how creative exchange fostered new approaches to Africa’s rich artistic histories and evolving contemporary cultures.