Written by Kate

During May, we have welcomed new resident artists from Cameroon, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

These artists will be here until July and will interact with other artists, produce works for a show, and work on community outreach programmes. We also have two Finnish artists who are self-funded, but Greatmore is supplying them with creative space.

Joel from Cameroon works with painting, sculpture and installation, with a focus on the fragility in humanity. He is interested in the way people try to be together to support each other. His works expresses light and shadow and uses plexi glass along with wire to recreate the image/projection of the shadow and also to balance strength and weakness. He came to Greatmore to further investigate the African experience: what africans do for other Africans. He says that in south Africa there is an idea of fragility and cooperation of cohabiting.

Mukudzeishe Muzondo from Zimbabwe prefers to work in acrylic. He says that he likes acrylic because it dries easily doesn’t produce a shine effect. He also has an affinity for mixed media – natural and man made objects that are collected, and adding value by telling a story similar to the social and political issues in a materialistic way. He has found the residency ‘mind blowing’ and is trying new things and enjoying the challenge. He is also trying to experiment with objects that he has never used before and that will hopefully become conceptual and functional in the society.

Sibusiso Duma is from Durban and found out about Greatmore’s residency programme through an agent. He has come to get involved with artists from other provinces and countries and to gain more experience. He is enjoying Cape Town and finding it even more culturally diverse than Durban. He would like to make at least five paintings while at Greatmore, reflecting Umlazi Township where he grew up and lives.

Annika Dahlsten and Markku Laakso are here from Finland, visiting Southern Africa for 2 months to work on a specific art project . The first stage will shown in Hamburg in the Finnish Cultural Institute. The have been invited to do a performance.

Markku’s great grandfather took part in a circus – Representing the ethnic ( Saami) people from Finland in the circus. He took the family dogs and reindeer and lived in the circus for half a year. In the same circus there were also a lot of Africans. The Finnish pair are following in Markku’s great grandfather’s footsteps by making a similar expedition to his circus travels. Their performance will include several videos and costumes, music and dance to recreate the strangeness of viewing ethnic people in a circus/zoo context. They previously spent time in Namibia taking photographs and video footage for 5 weeks.