Cape Town Conference Centre -focus on Investec art fair and so much more to add to the bigger picture, the culture of Africa…

Off the plane from Harare and to the waterfront to browse the crowds.. too much for me to queue in bustling restaurants and so I viewed the palm and moon sunset from the breakwater which holds back the icy Atlantic Ocean – and headed hotelwards to bed!

Valentines Day dawned … 14th February 2024

(My hotel Onomo Lux Foreshore is vibrant in decor- handpainted murals and tropical wall covering delight the morning senses ..)

Inspiring me to post a Valentines greeting…

On my way to view galleries, we passed the Iziko Musuem where Esther Mahlangu will soon be featured in a dedicated exhibition- meanwhile a homeless man sitting below the statue outside the Iziko Museum caught my eye- as we drove past he lifted a black plastic packet and drank from the bottle within -while a bird perched triumphantly on the head of the statue…

I had to catch up with my favourite store in Cape Town- The Book Lounge…carrying my abstract art tote bag by Jista Print Zimbabwe, of course! That bag filled up fast with bookish purchases…

Then onwards to the Waterfront- where Art Harare presented Gungano (a gathering) -10 Zimbabwean and South African artists, at the Silo Hotel Vault ..

An intimate seductively subterranean space ..

This exhibtion was a truly fitting start to my immersion, my journey towards the art fair and related events…

Met the delightful Barbara Voss and Lionel Davis…who were also viewing the exhibition.

(Lionel Davis features prominently in the history of the Community Arts Project, Vakalisa Art Associates, Thupelo Workshop and Greatmore Artists Studios. Davis works in visual modes that range from the realist to the abstract, which include everyday scenes snd reflections on African identity.)

What a show! here are some details from the Gungano artworks, (with artist Lionel Mbayiwa)..

Gungano was vibrant, Thought provoking ….Violence is for the weak..

Gungano glowed in every sense of the word (!) and here’s one of the “gold mafia” from Richard Mudariki (founder of Art Harare)…

The chapel like atrium of the Silo Hotel always intrigues, celebrating the working history of the space as an integral part of the Cape Town docks..

After the inspiring art, hunger set in .. I ascended from the depths of the Vault towards the bar, and ate fresh fish, (of course). I was privileged to access the private rooftop with views to the docks, moored fishing boats and a gigantic Norwegian luxury liner beached quayside which disgorged hundreds (thousand) of travellers – some of whom had probably added to the crush at the waterfront which put me off dinner the night before…

What a view

THK Gallery was my next stop to view a solo exhibition- the truly mesmerising steel creations and paintings by Jake Michael Singer..

His paintings – landscape/ocean or planets? Otherworldly but also powerfully of this earth….

His flights of wings, fluid undulations of floating steel captured me fully. I could hear the rustling of the feathers in flight – the ‘murmuration’ of fabulous life forms ..

Heading towards Woodstock, nestled at the foot of Table Mountain, to a gathering of hundreds at Straus and Co

Curatorial Voices, African Landscapes, Past and Present…

A stellar evening – so energizing to see the past and the present in painting juxtaposed – poignant really…

Culminating in a groundbreaking auction of the old and the new together – making art history,

Here are Pierneef and Samson side by side…the old and the new juxtaposed

Details and impressions of “Curatorial Voices….

Mercedes Benz was a sponsor…

After the Strauss & Co event, headed back towards the hotel, under a Van Gogh sky, Uber driver Kayaden told me how he fosters a Zimbabwean child who was found at three years old wandering a Cape Town freeway… she is now seven and happily at school…

Homeless shelters abound along the roadside – art and graffiti seems alive and well. Handpainted tarpaulin roofs register the unrest and displacement of the have nots, even as gigantic cruiser ships disgorge moneyed wealth into the smart stores of the V and A Waterfront – and statuesque flying woman monuments remember the fallen Korean soldiers of a world war….

End of a long interesting and artly satisfying day !