Cape Town (2 November 2018) – In November the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) premieres a new fashion exhibition, titled 21 YEARS: Making Histories with South African Fashion Week.
The exhibition will feature 21 ensembles from 21 designers, spanning different styles, multiple collections, and various seasons showcasing a micro-history of South African fashion. The exhibition will occupy two gallery spaces on Level 4 of the museum and will run from 14 November 2018 to 7 January 2019.
The exhibition is a collaboration with South African Fashion Week and draws on a curated selection of ensembles from their coming of age celebration of showcasing South African fashion since 1997. It will offer museum visitors an intimate survey of iconic fashion designers, such as Clive Rundle, Amanda Laird Cherry and Loxion Kulcha, alongside young designers that includes Sindiso Khumalo, Thebe Magugu and Selfi.
This presentation of the exhibition is organised by Erica de Greef, the Senior Curator at Zeitz MOCAA. “Much like art, fashion has the capacity to reflect the broader political, cultural, technological and creative transformation in post-apartheid South Africa”, she commented.
21 YEARS is an ongoing fashion-focused curatorial project of the museum that reclaims absent African fashion histories and writes into the record some of the neglected narratives through micro-history publications, exhibitions, and related workshops exploring, showcasing and archiving the history of a single event, magazine, maker, retailer, photographer, and more. The concept of 21 Years draws on a millennial approach to owning and narrating diverse and unique fashion histories. The debut micro-history exhibition follows the story of the first fashion week launched in Africa, South African Fashion Week, founded by Lucilla Booyzens in 1997.
21 YEARS: Making Histories with South African Fashion Week presents the opportunity to begin reflecting on and recording the many neglected fashion narratives from the continent. “In a continent where fashion has played such pivotal roles in crafting identities, politicising bodies, and engaging modernities, it is critical that African fashion narratives are afforded new forms of attention in museum spaces,” de Greef commented.
21 YEARS: Making Histories with South African Fashion Week is accompanied by an illustrated publication. The exhibition and publication will facilitate a range of important conversations around African fashion at Zeitz MOCAA, which will include panel discussions, curator-led talks and walkabouts, experimental workshops, digital activations, and participatory interventions.
21 YEARS of SA Fashion Week, the publication, will be available for purchase in the Zeitz MOCAA Shop, at R1 330 inclusive of VAT.
Exhibition title: 21 YEARS: Making Histories with South African Fashion Week.
Exhibition curator: Erica de Greef, Senior Curator, with Lesiba Mabitsela, Research Assistant and Githan Coopoo, Curatorial Assistant.
Exhibition dates: 14 November 2018 to 7 January 2019.
Exhibiting designers:
Amanda Laird Cherry
Black Coffee
Clive Rundle
Ephymol
Floyd Avenue
Guillotine
House of Ole
Lunar
Loxion Kulca
Mantsho
Marianne Fassler
Naked Ape
Rich Mnisi
Roman Handt
Selfi
Stoned Cherrie
Sies!Isabelle
Sindiso Khumalo
Strangelove
Superella
Thebe Magugu
ENDS
Media enquiries
Emma King
Interim Head of Communications
emma.king@zeitzmocaa.museum
+27 (0) 72 010 7704
NOTES TO THE EDITOR
About the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) Zeitz MOCAA is a public not-for-profit contemporary art museum that collects, preserves, researches
and exhibits 21st-century art from Africa and its diaspora; hosts international exhibitions; develops supporting educational and enrichment programmes; encourages intercultural understanding; and guarantees access for all.
More than one hundred galleries are dedicated to a large cutting-edge permanent collection; temporary exhibitions; and Centres for Art Education, Curatorial Training, Performative Practice, Photography, the Moving Image, and the Costume Institute.
Zeitz MOCAA was established through a partnership between the V&A Waterfront led by CEO David Green–acting on behalf of Growthpoint Properties Limited and the Government Employees Pension Find (GEPF), represented by the Public Investment Corporation Limited (PIC)–and collector Jochen Zeitz. The building was reimagined through a design by the acclaimed London-based Heatherwick Studio.
The Zeitz MOCAA board consists of David Green and Jochen Zeitz (Co-chairs), Isaac Julien and Wangechi Mutu (Artist Board Members), Suzanne Berman-Ackerman, Jody Allen, Jonathan Bloch, Kate Garwood, Pulane Kingston, Gasant Orrie, Albie Sachs, Anton Taljaard and Roger Ross Williams.