Blowing in the Wind

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

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