- This event has passed.
Open Discussions
6 December 2024 @ 6:00 pm
The concept of Beyond Exile is a long-term initiative to merge past and future into the present moment by creating a bridge between musical freedom fighters all over the world. We are achieving this with a thorough restoration of the lost archives of history and heritage that were scattered and battered across the world through systems of oppression that we overcame.
Jazz Memory and Justice (Cultural Activism in South Africa Heritage Exhibition and Book) is an innovative portable Heritage Exhibition showcasing the role of cultural activism in South Africa’s Freedom and a significant milestone and valuable resource for the 30 years of Democracy anniversary 2024 and beyond.
The portable exhibition of the landmarks and heroes of cultural activism forms the basis of a travelling show. The portable exhibition is a multiplier effect that not only provides long term economic opportunities and on-the-job training for jazz and heritage practitioners but also new innovative forms of knowledge-transfer through new and accessible digital and physical resources.
The content of the Portable Exhibition showcases the transformative effect of South Africa’s proud history of cultural activism. The reach and impact of this initiative is extended tovenues in towns, townships informal settlements and in rural areas. The show can be transported to community centres, schools and public spaces in South Africa. It can be showcased in embassies and museums and South African visitor centres everywhere.
Jazz Memory and Justice (Exhibition and Book Project) is an interpretive display designed to engage, the visitor to the extensive account of South Africa’s proud heritage of cultural activism.
The main presentation strategy of the Exhibition and Book Project is a user-friendly, interactive display with scenographic exhibitions and multimedia programs. Through text, photographs, design, the records and the audio-visual footage on the flatscreens, the role of cultural activism in South African freedom and democracy is explored. Through 20 A0 information panels and two video screens the rich history of South African music in the struggle will be brought skin-closer to the visitor/participant.
Liberation and the fight for democracy is the conveyor belt that carried all art forms – music, dance choreography, musical theatre, cabaret, fashion, painting, photography and poetry across the entire planet. Our heritage is our identity!
Festivals, marches, international co-operation, poetry, compositions, artworks, non-fiction works and activism, and the landmark pioneers of Miriam Makeba and Harry Belafonte, Graceland performers, South African stalwarts Malombo and Mankunu and the cultural centres of defiance in the South African capitals are researched documented and displayed for public and libraries.
The exhibition includes a display unit to reflect the vital bridges that were built through cultural activism with fellow leaders and artists all over Africa, Europe and the USA. South African cultural practitioners defied restrictions and travelled widely building solidarity abroad and planting the seeds for democracy across borders. This will be a great inspiration for future creatives, leaders and visitors.
The Exhibition Timeline is 1960-1994 and is marked by the milestones of the 1956 Defiance Campaign/1960 Sharpeville Massacre, 1976 Soweto Students Uprising, the 1984 State of Emergency 1 & 2 and the first democracy elections on April 27, 1994 and throws a spotlight on the leading personalities and cultural milestones in SA freedom
The content’s priority list shall be liberation struggle leaders, student, labour women leaders, academic leaders, professions like teaching and nursing, musicians, visual artists, photographers, writers, theatre, dance performance, filmmakers, sculptors, innovators, awardees.
An important component will be the continental Africa and the international impact of S.A. exiles abroad and their contributions through performance and publication.
South African testimonies and research will include artists composers and authors who contributed their works outside of the country in locations such as Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, Nigeria, USA, Canada, United Kingdom, European Union, USSR and East Europe.
The movement of South African artists, composers and authors to various locations abroad as began after the twin events of the Defiance Campaign in the 1950s and the Sharpeville Massacre beginning 1960s which led to activists to be jailed, banished, banned and pushed into exile. The Soweto Students’ Uprising in 1976, catapulted thousands of primary, high school and university students to swell the exile ranks by a large margin. The State of Emergency 1 & 2 in 1982 & 1984 saw many activists skipping the country.
Bringing these works back home to South Africa and sharing knowledge is an important part of the research methodology.
The Exhibition and Book Project documents the liberation movement, the ANC, the PAC and BCM and the cultural solidarity movements abroad such as the Artists Against Apartheid movement founded in Sweden, the Sechaba Cultural programmes in New York and the Jazz Against Apartheid movement founded in Frankfurt.
The Exhibition and Book Project highlights democracy in 1994, and the worldwide convergence of positive cultural activism in South Africa’s hard earned freedom.