21/04/2026
Hierdie kunsuitstalling loop Saterdag ten einde.
About the Art From Archives initiative
This is the final chapter in a three-year teaching & learning collaboration devised by Prof. Kathryn Smith (Visual Arts) and historian and archivist Dr Amy Rommelspacher of the Dutch Reformed Church Archives. ‘Art from Archives’ was launched in 2023, introducing third-year Fine Arts students to archival research methods, and artistic responses to historical events and world views. Our first encounter was framed via discussed of food in the travel journals of Andrew Charles (AC) Murray and Andries Adriaan Louw as they journeyed through South Africa and neighbouring lands, which produced the 2024 exhibition A Square Meal.
In 2024, we turned our attention to everyday lives of Mimie and Jemima Louw, whose written correspondence was the focus of the exhibition present. Students developed artworks in response to these letters between mother and daughter that shaped our perspectives on the joys, loves, losses, struggles and pleasures of everyday life, ranging from painting, sculpture, installation, textile, video, and even experiments with scent and sound.
In the process of researching and making Place, we were once again struck by human vulnerability, and the profound relationships expressed through the archival material that reflect our own contemporary experiences. At a time when we are bombarded with images of those whose homes or places are in war zones on the one hand and those whose places are characterised by leisure and luxury on the other, the past pushed us to reflect on the places and spaces we occupy in the present. We hope that this final exhibition in our ‘Art from Archives’ trilogy offers its visitors the same opportunity. - Prof Kathryn Smith & Dr Amy Rommelspacher
