South African Traditional Arts Exhibition

By Marsha Macdowell

This project, coordinated by the Michigan State University Museum and the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, is an outgrowth of both the Smithsonian's 1999 Festival program "Crafting the Economic Renaissance of the Rainbow Nation and the collaborative partnership projects of MSU's  South African National Cultural Heritage Training and Technology Program.  Working in collaboration with South African traditional artisans and regional, community-based heritage workers and educators, this heritage training, documentation, and interpretation project aims to culminate in two major products: 1) an exhibition would be designed to travel nationally to museums within South Africa and internationally to museums in the U.S. and 2)  a series of smaller regional exhibitions at several of the new cultural resource centers built throughout South Africa.  The exhibitions are intended as vehicles for community cultural workers in each region to gain skills and experience in heritage documentation, interpretation, and museum work.  The traveling exhibition will serve to introduce people inside and outside South Africa to the communities that have created and nurtured South Africa's extraordinarily rich, diverse craft heritage.

At MSU this project involves Kurt Dewhurst, Marsha MacDowell, Lynne Swanson, and Yvonne Lockwood (Michigan State University Museum), Mark Kornbluh (History, MATRIX: The Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences OnLine and H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences OnLine, John Beck (Labor Studies Program); and Peter Knupfer (MATRIX and Department of History).  At the Smithsonian Institution, the project involves Diana N'Diaye, senior cultural specialist, SI Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

In May 2002, a meeting was held in Durban at the Campbell Collections to confirm guiding principles and components for the exhibition.  In addition to SANCH members Dewhurst, N’Diaye, MacDowell, Knupfer, and Seleti, participants included Kate Wells and Reggie Letatsi (Durban Institute of Technology DIT), Patricia Davison and Esther Esmyol (IZIKO), Yvonne Winters (Campbell Collections, University of Natal), Joseph Mathe (DACST), Sandra de Wet and Hilary Bruce (Museum Africa), Jill Addleson (Durban Art Gallery), Prince Dube and Veliswa Gwinta (Johannesburg Art Gallery), and Marit Dewhurst (Michigan State University Museum/MATRIX).  Currently project leaders N’Diaye, MacDowell, and Dewhurst are seeking proposals from South African collaborating institutions and organizations for the exhibit components identified at the planning meeting as well as beginning to identify possible sources of funding.