A ‘retrospective’ posting, looking back at FNB artfair 2025,

Jozi, Joni, Joburg, Egoli, City of Gold, City of ART! Johannesburg during FNB ArtJoburg!!….All roads lead to the City of Gold in September 2025, that mined and fascinating blend of multiple layers, deep cultural histories sandwiched with contemporary materialism, gold stratified with grime; immigrants, emigrants and refugees; artists, tycoons and tricksters; philanthropists, power brokers and philistines…

Arriving in Jozi before the fair begins, I am immersed- exploring layers of art at Guns & Rain Art Gallery- viewing art on recycled packaging that is powerful in its deceiving simplicity …Art by Zimbabwean Isheanesu Dondo -who is exhibiting at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair with #gunsandrain gallery

And since they are not exhibiting at FNB artfair this year, I am also excited to catch the Guns & Rain exhibition “UNRESOLVED: Memory, Protest and Waiting” featuring Nicola Brandt, David Brits, Christo Doherty, Tuli Mekondjo, Jo Rogge, Ina-Maria Shikongohere.

Tuli Mekondjo’s embroidered military uniforms catch my deep interest,

To quote Julie..”Namibia’s wars against Germany and South Africa – are powerfully evoked through Tuli Mekondjo’s embroidered military uniforms. Originally used by German soldiers, this colonial uniform was adopted by Herero men after the war of 1904 – 1908 as traditional regalia, …… dress, fashion, became a living practice – signifying unique defiance and cultural survival. Meticulously stitching a human skeleton in a second layer of appropriation, Mekondjo pays tribute to Nama and Herero prisoners who died on Shark Island, Lüderitz, dozens of whose skulls were sent to Germany for eugenics research. Across cultures, a death requires a proper burial with fitting rites. Wars obstruct this crucial need: the outcome is suffering and social disorder. In southern African cultures too, an improper death results in a restless, waiting spirit. Whilst human remains still sit in European and American institutions, Mekondjo mends “lost connections to ancestors”, restoring dignity, a personal gesture to heal and resolve the unresolved.”

In a different medium, but related, a photographic art response to Namibia’s colonisation by Germany, is how Nicola Brandt examines Namibian landscapes have been transformed into landscapes of memory, power and struggle, capturing the intangible… Brandt takes us to Herero and Nama memorial sites in the coastal towns of Swakopmund and !Nami where Herero and Nama died in prisoner-of-war camps (1904-1908). Some of these places, including mass graves, remain un-signposted and unacknowledged in guide books or official materials, despite their proximity to well-known towns, main roads and tourist sites. Over three years, Brandt worked with two Herero women, Uakondjisa Kakuekue Mbari and Katuvangua Maendo. After being invited to wear the Herero dress​, originally introduced by missionaries and later appropriated and altered by Herero women who still wear it today​…

Tuli Mekondjo’s embroidered military uniforms catch my deep interest, (fascinated as I am by textile, tradition and the power of dress and fashion in cultures) as do Nicola Brandt’s Namibian landscapes transformed into landscapes of fiction and power. and in the collage below I have taken the liberty of juxtaposing them as I see them in my own mind…

On to FNB ArtJoburg ….. one of Africa’s leading contemporary art fairs, for African and Diasporic practitioners.

Thursday 5th September, my stepdaughter Kimmy, her partner Klaus and I attend the FNB vernissage- attended by art luminaries and lay people alike, a melting pot of people who are often in search of the perfect selfie no matter what the background… sorry, that is a bit harsh… I must accept that an art opening is for seeing but also for ‘being seen’ and it seems that perhaps the art takes second place! Maybe this is as it should be, a few hours of intense social networking, and if the art empowers that, then I guess the art is itself empowered, brought into the public realm, as opposed to sitting in a white isolated cube…!!

Despite my saying that, I become one of the paparazzi… I can’t resist taking photos of Kimmy with this commanding Jean David Nkot painting “The Other Side of Power”, the chair (the bureaucracy?) as a symbol of dominance in North /South Global dialogues – (note Kimmy’s proudly Zimbabwean drinks can tab-tops recycled FashionArt purse, commented on favourably by all…a work of art in itself that I purchased for her at the Zimbabwe National Gallery shop ..)

And I can’t resist getting a photo with friend Gresham at the First Floor Gallery booth, so I am just as guilty as the selfie takers….!

AAAAH….First Floor Gallery… I am biased, but always this Zimbabwean team led by Valerie Kabov and Marcus Gora, with Rodney Badza, curates an immaculate offering… here is my montage of some of the vibrant artworks on offer….

Always Misheck Masamvu stops me in my tracks, a superlative Zimbabwean artist, at Goodman Gallery….

Another of my stops is always Yinka Shonibare …. the detail of the stitched collage satisfies my soul

Catching my eye always, is Steven Cohen, his face prints created from the removal of his face art after each performance, the multi-layered unqualifiable and complicated yet devastatingly simple and focussed genius that shines through his body adornment and psyche…

As I am writing this particular 2025 blog retrospectively, it is intriguing to now in 2026 see the unfolding of a recent drama in Cohen’s art journey…as certain displays at his 2026 Long Life exhibition, have been recently censored, draped in black fabric by the exhibition hosts, Iziko Museums…..look at my blog for Investec 2026 for more on that.

Anthea Buys, curator of Long Life at the Iziko South African National Gallery says “I’ve written a statement on the covering of artworks in the exhibition It presents my account of the circumstances surrounding Iziko Museums of South Africa’s decision to remove certain artworks from the exhibition and my and Steven’s response to this decision.”

Iziko Museums says: “This exhibition offers an unprecedented look at Cohen’s artistic career, which has shaped the discourse of performance art in South Africa, France, and beyond. Known for his fearless exploration of identity, politics, and belonging, Cohen’s work interrogates themes of sexuality, spirituality, race, freedom, ethics, memory and love. While engaging with universal themes, Cohen’s work is always rooted in deeply personal narratives of love, loss and resilience.

The title, Long Life, is a phrase of condolence in Jewish custom, one that honours those who have passed while offering hope and affirming that to live is a blessing. This sentiment resonates throughout Cohen’s works. Above all, Long Life is about compassion and indignation, belonging and loneliness, and the connections with others that make life worth living.

Made up of installations, performance documentation, objects, images, films and ephemera, the exhibition offers a loosely chronological survey of Cohen’slife and work, coalescing around key relationships in the artist’s life.

From textile-based works from the late 1980s, to documentation of Cohen’s uninvited public interventions in the late 1990s and early 2000s, to more recent performances conceived for the stage, the exhibition represents the breadth of a profoundly influential career”.

Happily, since I’ll be in Cape Town for Investec art fair, Steven Cohen’s Long Life at the Iziko Gallery will be a must see for me. and will deserve a blog on its own I think….

I digress! Back to FNB art fair, september 2025…!…

on Friday I arrive at Sandton, to browse the art early before the crowds arrive, much to my satisfaction…

At Everard Read, given my interest in Dance as a theme in my own art practice, I keep coming back to a fabulous Mary Sibanda installation… “Sophie” who, in bronze, stands en pointe in Attitude Devant, as Mary says, ‘a heavy form balanced delicately on the tip of one toe. The body feels both grounded and lifted, capturing the gravity-defying poise of ballet. This work forms part of my ongoing series where Sophie is exhibited in moments of leisure, engaging in everyday pursuits with elegance and strength’.

My screenshot from my video captures some of her immense grace…. #marysibanda #artinstallation #linbarrieart #dance #fashion #art #everardreadgallery….

Another monumental sculpture, at Everard Read booth, Brett Murray, Government of National Unity…snail sculpture.. close too my heart given that the Humba, the giant african snail, is my village of Chief Mahenye’s totem……

Again at Everard Read booth Sanell Aggenbach catches my eye….

And at Everard Read booth, our own Zimbabwean Tafadzwa Tega attracts many viewers

I am attracted to self taught fibre artist Tinyiko Makwakwa, from Tzaneen, at Kalashnikovv Gallery. She uses beadwork, needlework and natural handmade dyes, (coloraturas)

After my personal enjoyment of specific artworks on Friday, I must admit to being a little ‘underwhelmed’ at the offerings of the rest of the general art booths… less seemed to stand out for me than at previous art fairs…

So I am eagerly anticipating a pre-booked curated ArtJoburg experience with friend Karabo Morule of Capital Art: Capital Art curated FNB, Johannesburg, during ArtJoburg 2025, co-curated by Soul Traveller Tours, Penny @soultravellertours

On Saturday 6 September I meet the Art Capital and Soul Traveller Tours team of Karabo and Penny at the FNB art fair entrance, and we take a comfortable minibus (Kombi) to attend a ‘Working Title’ panel discussion at Goodman Gallery: “Artists, Collectors, and the Making of Sustainable Cultural Futures in South Africa”. ‘Working Title’ was initially an annual exhibition series supporting young artists, curators, independent projects, and large-scale installations and performances. It is now a year-round incubator programme, designed for artists and cultural practitioners. Bringing together voices from several parts of the art world – artists Bonolo Kavula and Unathi Mkonto, and collector and investor-operator entrepreneur Karabo Morule – the discussion highlights how collaboration, especially between artists and galleries, can benefit and strengthen all. To me, most interesting is the discussion on gallery/artist trust and open relationships, Collaboration being key….

For LUNCH…we drive to Sanctuary Mandela (SM) – a space which celebrates the life and home of father of the South African nation, Nelson Mandela (1918-2013). Sanctuary Mandela is surrounded by contemplative gardens and thoughtful spaces filled with well curated exhibits that pay tribute to the spirit and memory of Mandela.

A xibelani (Tsonga) dance skirt in the foyer at SM especially catches my eye (of course).. The Budula Dance Festival yearly in Zimbabwe, which celebrates Xangana Tsonga dance and culture, is one of the highlights of the year for me, and my art practice embraces Dance, Music and Rhythm as a theme very strongly

At Insights restaurant, within SM, talented chefs in the open air kitchen craft meals telling stories, using african flavours and creating a spirit of togetherness around the table that Madiba would have valued.

After a delicious lunch in the homely but elevated space that is Sanctuary Mandela, I get a SM seal stamped into my Art Passport

we head onto Wits Art Museum in our comfortable kombi. Passing a man on the roadside, begging for ‘Food only Please, and being myself replete with a good meal, I am jolted yet again, as I always am in cities (and especially in Jozi, city of gold and grime), by juxtapositions of poverty and wealth. And, fittingly a solo exhibition: Black Subjects by Serge Alain Nitegeka (Rwanda/South Africa)
Nitegeka, as a student, was located in a space above the main gallery. Across painting, sculpture and video, Nitegeka grounds his practice in a language of abstraction, geometry and colour, reflecting the fragile emigration and immigration status of his subjects, displaced peoples……

Mahlako A Phahla Art Collection Visit:
Sisters Makole Mupita and Meta Mhlarhi, both chartered accountants, are the founders of Mahlako a Phahla, a social infrastructure group in advisory services, financial services and alternative investment management, and Art advisor Lucky Mofomme walks us through the artworks in
this immersive corporate collection. I immerse myself in the various Kentridges on view….

Late afternoon, we are treated to a walkabout with Karabo Morule and Penny – FNB ArtJoburg, we Walk through the art fair, and stopping at booths which have caught her discerning eye..and I am fully entranced by one painting by Johannes Phokela, Allegory of Seasons II (a flight of Europa series) oil on canvas….it keeps drawing me back, a total allegorical ecosystem which holds so many modern questions, built on legends and luscious brushstrokes….

This may be my favourite painting of the art fair….

Sunday 7 September.

In the morning, we visit the historic Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) with a collection larger than that
of the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town. We walk through the 2024 FNB ArtJoburg Art Prize Winner Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude’s exhibition Sugar Coats and hear his immersive stories, although as he says he is happy that his art just ‘Is’, speaking for itself and open to individual interpretation, no need for prescription!

Gresham, whose art just ‘Is” !….

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Loving textile and traditional fabric art as I do, I am ENTRANCED by the extensive exhibition of beadwork from the JAG Southern African Traditional Collection, especially the xangana tsonga traditional beading, such as these….

And a traditional xibelani skirt at JAG….

Echoes of this wonderful traditional beadwork are still seen in the beaded xibelani skirts that ladies wear in our Mahenye and Gonarezhou surrounds, hours of work go into these beaded chibabela (xibelani) skirts

And in my own painted canvases i continue this tradition of beadwork, such as here, embellished with beadwork by Blessing, a friend skilled in the beading of the area ……

Wonderful textures and moods in this beaded piece…

At JAG, Jackson Hlungwani, sculptor in wood born in Limpopo province, mesmerizes me…

Lunch at Glory, 44 Stanley. An edgy yet sohisticated downtown space, Also in the precinct are
The Library of the Things We Forgot to Remember, an interactive audio-visual archive of black resistance, founded by Zimbabwean artist Kudzanai Chiurai…..

Next, a visit to a boutique hotel near Rosebank which reveals original artworks carefully collected and curated on the walls – reflecting a growing awareness of the power of good art in public spaces……..

On the night of the full eclipse of the full moon, we visit Nelson Makamo’s studio, long a favourite artist of mine, and celebrated contemporary artist, he is best known for his vibrant portraits of children. Makamo studied printmaking between 2003 and 2006 at Artist Proof Studio. He works with numerous artistic mediums including charcoal, oil, and watercolour in a unique mark-making style.

Makamo is a powerful observer of LIFE, he creates compelling portraits of everyday people in an urban and rural landscape -a cross cultural exchange which resonates with me, straddling rural and urban life and art as I myself do…Nelson Makamo

Born in Limpopo Modimolle, Makamo’s First Light project, is helping people see for the first time by facilitating surgical removal of their cataracts.

Hmmm…interesting how my appreciation for the external art happenings around the FNB art fair has been focussed on Limpopo Artists such as Makamo, Xangana beadwork, Limpopo sculptors… close to my roots living as I do on the banks of that other great lowveld river in Zimbawe, the Save River!!!

To end my FNB art fair. blog, here I am in my happy space, admiring a firm favorite of mine, Blessing Ngobeni …