South African Art Engages History Amid Student Protests, Featuring Exhibitions and Monument Debates

In November 2015, South African artists and critics intensified their engagement with history, spurred by recent student protests. Haroon Gunn-Salie presented his first solo exhibition, History after Apartheid, at the Goodman Gallery, exploring political implications through works referencing Imam Haron's funeral and Cecil Rhodes's statue. Lwandile Fikeni reflected on the past's stains and grief. Concurrently, Dali Tambo initiated the National Heritage Monument in Tshwane, a sculpture park with lifelike bronzes honoring anti-apartheid and anti-colonial figures, though Thuli Gamedze critiqued bronze as a colonial signifier and commercialization. At KZNSA, curator Amy Watson organized Sightings, a group show featuring historical objects by artists like Bridget Baker and Kemang Wa Lehulere, with Chad Rossouw noting their role in multiple narratives and political critique. Lizza Littlewort exhibited We Live in the Past at 99 Loop, reworking Old Dutch masterpieces to critique colonial imagination and white privilege, with Gamedze highlighting the irony in replicating denounced forms. These events underscore a broader examination of history's visibility in South Africa's land, cities, and institutions.