Clear your cultural diary: Four art events in April not to be missed

A Sunny Day | Everard Read Franschhoek

This new body of work from Thonton Kabeya, made during his time at Everard Read Leeu Estates Residency in 2023, pushes the boundaries of the traditional medium of paint and canvas by using new and experimental ways to create textures, depth and balance of colour.

Kabeya glues layers of canvas together, which he then cuts, carves and sculpts before painting. He finishes the work with transfers of ink from newspaper — carefully positioned to indicate the folds of moving fabric — and the application of a deep brown walnut powder (an old method of staining wooden furniture) to render skin and balance the tonality of the work. This work is inspired by the Congolese Rumba dance, architecture and design, and where his practice seeks balance in composition, line and colour in his three-dimensional work.

A Sunny Day opened on 1 April and will show until 23 April. The Gallery is open on Tuesday to Sunday from 10am-5pm.

Tributaries: Contemporary Zimbabwean Narratives | Barnard Gallery

Critically acclaimed Zimbabwean-born artist Richard Mudariki’s colour-filled and structured work has been exhibited both internationally and locally — most recently appearing at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair. Barnard Gallery, in association with artHARARE, is pleased to present Tributaries: Contemporary Zimbabwean Narratives. Curated by Mudariki alongside Barnards’ art director, Alastair Whitton, the show will include selected works by leading Zimbabwean artists Moffat Takadiwa, Troy Makaza, Dan Halter,  Franklyn Dzingai, Wilfred Timire, Xanthe Somers, Tafadzwa Tega, Virginia Chihota and, of course, Mudariki. The group exhibition explores sociopolitical notions relating to identity, belonging, memory and geography in a postcolonial African context. 

Tributaries opens 18 April. The Barnard Gallery is open from 9am-4pm on weekdays, and from 9am-12pm on Saturdays, or by appointment.

End of the Game | Inside Out Centre for the Arts 

Comprising various installations and a survey selection of Roger Ballen’s own photographic work from the last few decades, the End of the Game exhibition is focused on Africa’s particular ecological blight — big game hunting. The inaugural exhibition deals in a characteristically Ballenesque way with the wholesale colonial destruction of wildlife in Africa through game huntin, through both an historical and artistic lens. Its title is taken from celebrity photographer Peter Beard’s exhibition of the same name in 1965, punning on the fact that ‘the game is killing the game’.

End of Game opened on 28 March. The Centre has visitor slots available every Tuesday from 11am-2pm and 5.30pm-6.30pm; and on Thursday from 6pm- 7pm. It also runs a tour on the first Saturday of every month from 11am-12pm. 

Against the Grain: Photography from SA and the US | Goodman Gallery

Goodman Gallery is pleased to present Against the Grain, an exhibition of photographic works by Ernest Cole, David Goldblatt, Ruth Motau, Ming Smith and Lindokuhle Sobekwa. Spanning three generations, the exhibition explores how each photographer has used the medium to expose, question and reflect on their social and political contexts. 

Against the Grain will run until 15 April. The Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg  is open Tuesday-Friday from 8.30am-5pm, and on Saturday from 8.30am-4pm.