NEWSLETTER OF THE PHANSI UBUNTU ART MUSEUM - DURBAN
June - July 2020
Monthly news and opinions
ONLINE LIFE AND UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
Dear Friends of Phansi,
We have had another look at the glass and decided that it is half ‘full’ rather than half empty. With the liquor-ban in place, we have decided to go global in order to get our Mojo and Vuma back. Even I am becoming semi-literate in communicating on the world-wide-web to the extent that I can now understand some of the terms. We are so excited. Against the backdrop of a spectacular exhibition of about 40 of the museums izikoti from the Drakensberg, Niamh and Similo organised a memorable series of zoom-talks to delight and amuse the participants. The virtual museum tour (also by Niamh) has had many hits and the response has been great. We are also re-launching some of our earlier movies. Our partners the African Art Center (AAC) are organising a virtual exhibition called Enchanting Creatures of the Forest. The opening is on the 8th of August until the 21st. In the background will be South Africa’s famous Kingboy Singers, an Isicathamiya group, that like the AAC, was established in 1965. The exhibition will be shown live and entry is by invitation. After the exhibition opening we will resume our internet adventures by delving deeper into our treasures. We are also proud to announce that we are now on the GOOGLE Arts and Culture platform as one of the very few art- museums from Africa. At this stage only our banner appears while we are busy downloading some 5000 items from our collection. Our school training workshops resume on the 1st of August. The news on the finances is even more dire now than it was before and we lament the absence of help from those who promised. We also gratefully acknowledge the donation of some wonderful and very special artworks ranging from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. Professor Margaret Diamond, the Head of English department for many years at the University of KwaZulu-Natal is moving to a retirement home, presenting them in recognition of the work that the museum is doing.