Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose, Untitled 26 (December 16th, 2019), 2021, Gicleé print on Epson Hot Press Natural 330 gsm
Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose, Untitled 26 (December 16th, 2019), 2021, Gicleé print on Epson Hot Press Natural 330 gsm
Image: Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose studio

The 17th iteration of Johannesburg’s premier art fair, FNB Art Joburg, is almost upon us. With the main art fair action once more taking place at the Sandton Convention Centre, the organisers have extended the successful formula that has seen the Fair grow beyond the commercial boundaries of the main exhibition, buying and selling venue.

Billing the period around the Art Fair itself as a showcase for Joburg’s "art ecosystem", sponsors FNB and the organisers have turned September into a mammoth arts and culture festival that will include a set of open studio and art-related events at venues all over the city.

These will include tours, music and performance events, as well as curated lifestyle experiences at unusual and out of the way Joburg spots. But there’s a lot on, so free up your calendars.

Back at the ranch, the main art fair venue at the Convention Centre is curated into themed sections that have become recognisable features of the main fair over the last few years. These sections, all housed in the main exhibition spaces of the Centre, comprise the main gallery exhibitors, in the “gallery HUB”; the “gallery LAB” comprises a focus on emerging and hybrid art spaces; the MAX section for sculpture and large works, and the ETC, AUX and ORG sections, which cater for various other institutional and specialised parts of the wider art ecosystem.

Overall, the Fair will represent 41 exhibitors, 14 countries and over 100 artists, making it, along with the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, one of the top art platforms on the whole continent.

One innovation this year will hopefully attract the critical and commercial attention it deserves. FNB Art Joburg has introduced a new exhibitor section to the main space — GIF. This is positioned to “honour the medium of photography in Africa and its contribution towards SA’s democratic dispensation”.

SA is renowned globally for the quality and depth of photographers working at the boundary of documentary and fine art. Spurred on by a tradition of anti-apartheid documentary and photojournalism from the 1950s to the 1990s, new generations of photographers have extended the boundaries of the medium to not only document but find new ways of understanding SA’s contemporary, post-apartheid lives.

Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose, Untitled 21 (January 1st, 2020), 2021, Gicleé print on Epson Watercolour 188 gsm
Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose, Untitled 21 (January 1st, 2020), 2021, Gicleé print on Epson Watercolour 188 gsm
Image: Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose studio

As a result, the new spotlight at FNB Art Joburg celebrates the 30 years of SA democracy by showcasing some of its world-famous talent, like works by photographic stalwarts, Alf Khumalo, Ernest Cole, Peter Magubane and David Goldblatt. Galleries which have brought contemporary work in the medium to bear at this inaugural show include Stevenson, Everard Read, First Floor Gallery Harare X Modzi Arts from Zimbabwe, Goodman Gallery, Eclectica Contemporary, Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose and Moyo Oyelolla. If the art fair’s publicity is to be believed, this long-overdue showcase will grow to include all lens-based media and will reflect on the media in the context of the African continent and the African diaspora.

Artists you can expect to see in the section include the aforementioned Khumalo, Cole and Magubane, all curated by art fair manager Kim Kandan, who also brings work by more contemporary figure Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose. Zimbabwe’s First Floor Gallery Harare + Modzi Arts will show Calvin Dondo and Henry Tayali, and well-known local contemporary gallery Stevenson shows Edson Chagas.

The Goodman Gallery, a Joburg original also active in Cape Town and London, dominates the fine art photographic scene in the country, and brings a full roster to this inaugural event. Its artists include some major names both local and international, such as ​​Jabulani Dhlamini, Carlos Garaicoa, David Goldblatt, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Ruth Motau, Shirin Neshat, the incumbent FNB Art Prize winner Lindokuhle Sobekwa, Mikhael Subotzky & Patrick Waterhouse and Sue Williamson. Most of these are well worth your time and are mostly reasonably priced for limited edition work.

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