BLOWING IN THE WIND
An exhibition about Dreams and Disasters
This year (2015) has begun with a series of international tragedies that remind us that intolerance, fanaticism and violence still pervade our world. Not enough has changed from the 1960s when the idea that a more peaceful and tolerant society was possible took hold of the world.
Two songs from those years say it all. These are “Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan and “Imagine” by John Lennon. The curatorial intention of this exhibition is to revisit their lyrics in the light of a half century since.
In South Africa, we still make the same mistakes and dream the same dreams.
Several of the works on “Blowing in the Wind” deal with environmental and human exploitation issues including those surrounding the cornerstone of our country’s material wealth – the mining industry.
The prevalence of violence cannot be ignored and our society’s obsession with guns and crime is a pervasive theme particularly in the Main Gallery space where reminders of the Steenkamp/Pistorius case are juxtaposed with a video where Lerato Shadi expresses the pain and entrapment to which many women are subjected.
But this is not all: the upper gallery changes in mood to suggest that the words of “Imagine” offer a vision of a better and different world where the absence of people suggests that nature can be a redemption.
The fragile banners by Vulindlela Nyoni depicting a murmuration of swallows is an ambiguous reminder of both the power of solidarity, where a critical mass can alter the course of history, as we have been seeing with recent events such as the Arab Spring. This layered artwork also suggests a migration to another space as exxpressed in Lennon’s words “Imagine {there is] only sky above us”.
Derrick Nxumulo presents a vision of a perfect city which is beautiful, sunny, colourful and ironically containing hardly a sign of people. The underlying theme of the exhibition is that humankind has not realised the damage and harm they are doing to themselves and the world they live in.
Carol Brown - Exhibition Curator
Carol Brown - Exhibition Curator
Bob Dylan – Blowin’ in the wind
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, ’n’ how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, ’n’ how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ’n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ’n’ how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ’n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ’n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
John Lennon - Imagine
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
