The unspoken message of ceramics

Unspoken, a long-term exhibition by the University of Pretoria (UP) Museums, showcases signature South African ceramics from the Corobrik Collection. But it is so much more than an exhibition of some of the best South African ceramics.

Artist name: Majolandile Dyalvane Medium: Earthware Height: 290 mm Width: 260 mm Are ceramics more than an iconic art form on the African continent? How do artists view their art and is ceramic art in the eye of the beholder? How has the tradition of ceramicmaking from precolonial Africa been passed on as an Unspoken tradition from one generation to the next?

These are some of the provocative questions that the exhibition, Unspoken, aims to explore. Showcasing signature South African ceramics from the Corobrik Collection, this long-term, rotational loaned exhibition by the UP Museums is held in partnership with Corobrik, Ceramics Southern Africa (SA) and the City of Tshwane’s Pretoria Art Museum (PAM).

Over 230 ceramics are on display, and the selected ceramicists will be changed each year, to explore their Unspoken biographies. They have been selected to examine how and why their art is influenced by personal journeys, the artistic profession and the role ceramics play within contemporary art.

Over time, the exhibition will rotate selected artists annually to feature in Unspoken. This is more than just an exhibition of some of the best South Africa seminal ceramics. It serves to open discussions and questions about how ceramics are currently viewed and interpreted by a diversity of audiences within a university museum context.

On many occasions ceramic art is a form of social commentary, allowing artists to speak of heritage, politics, or religion. Unspoken aims to remove the boundaries between ceramics as a craft and fine art. Artists utilise ceramics to explore everyday issues, moments, and emotions through their art and to express who they are and their origins.

Some artists have been inspired by generations of ceramic-making as a tradition, where skills were passed on from one generation to the next.

October 2021 – December 2022

Co-curated by

Gerard de Kamper & Lelani Nicolaisen

Artist name: Sisanda Mbana Medium: Earthware Height: 250 mm Width: 400 mm

The making of vessels, beer pots, cooking pots – whether as functional household items or symbolic works – has been an ongoing indigenous art form in South Africa, and perhaps is even at risk today of becoming a lost tradition. These early skills may have inspired later generation artists to be creative in the construction of contemporary ceramics.

As example, the world-renowned South African Zulu artist, Nesta Nala (1940-2005) passed her ceramic-making skills onto her three daughters who are now also ceramic artists. Mamelodi-based artist Nic Sithole (b.1964) learnt the art of ceramic making from his maternal grandmother.

Ceramics as a medium can accordingly transition seamlessly from the past into the present, through the histories of its makers and that which is Unspoken. In this exhibition, works in the Corobrik Collection are paired into collectives to deliberately create conversations, explore shared histories, tensions and their contemporary functions and meaning. This allows for more nuanced perspectives in the world of ceramics.

This prestigious local ceramic art collection was formerly housed at Tatham Gallery in 1996 and the Sandton Art Gallery until 2001 when it relocated to the Pretoria Art Museum, where the collection is currently catalogued and housed. UP signed a long-term loan agreement with Corobrik in 2020 and a Memorandum of Understanding with PAM in 2021 regarding the Unspoken exhibition. This brings nearly the entire Corobrik Collection, comprising 276 works, onto post-pandemic public display within a single classic gallery in the Old Arts Building on UP’s Hatfield campus.

Artist name: Madoda Fani Medium: Stoneware Height: 100 mm Width: 250 mm Artist name: Nic Sithole Medium: Terracota Earthware Height: 300 mm Width: 400 mm