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Leaving behind the hooting of taxis, the shouts of motorists and the whine of JMPD sirens, you enter the Johannesburg Art Gallery and immediately a sense of calmness, tranquillity and – especially on a hot, sticky Thursday afternoon – aircon breeze allows you to close your eyes and centre yourself.
For the first time in the gallery’s 104-year history it has launched an exhibition dedicated to the Art of Comics.
Comic books have long existed in South Africa, but the industry – or the “growing scene”, as artist Nas Hoosen calls it – has only exploded into the public eye over the past few years with the rise of superhero movies and Africa’s first Comic Con.
“People don’t think a lot of SA comics are being made, but this is evidence that there are,” Hoosen says. For him it is an honour to be featured in the exhibit, especially considering that a friend had recently told him he would never be able to exhibit in an art gallery because he didn’t go to art school. “Our African artists’ works deserve to be in these spaces,” he says as kids in the background scream with delight as another artist, Loyiso Mkize, hands out prizes, which are – surprise, surprise – Comic Con tickets.
Hoosen’s work is part of an anthology by the Qintu Collab called Meanwhile. It will be released this month, and focuses on “short graphic stories about everyday queer life in South and East Africa”. Mkize is part of the first generation of successful local comic book artists. He has worked on Supa Strikas and created the ever-popular comic book Kwezi. He says the exhibition is about recognising the art form in the same way that comic books are recognised in France as the “ninth official art form”.
The French portion of the exhibit looks at the history of comic art in France along with the various styles and schools of thought, as well as what the future holds, like the sci-fi comic Valérian and Laureline.
French ambassador Aurélien Lechevallier says that “the artworks assembled here are a bridge between two countries, styles and cultures”. Mkize says that “sharing this space in the art gallery officially places us (comic artists) on the map”.
The exhibit is beautifully curated by South Africans Tara Weber and Ray Whitcher, and Thierry Groensteen from France.
You start off in a section dubbed “The history of comic art”, where the works of Roy Lichtenstein, Johannes Maswanganyi, Claudette Schreuders and 12th century Japanese artist and monk Toba Sojo are featured. Then you move to a hall where the history of South African comic art is displayed, with a page or two from works such as Mkize’s Kwezi, Tasmin Naidoo’s Avocat and Guac-rocket and Joe Daly’s Red Monkey Double Happiness book. In another section, which feels like you are walking into different countries and eras as the circular shape of the exhibition finally takes hold, you meet the French works.
Walking out of the exhibition one feels at ease with life and a renewed sense of inspiration – but then you encounter the taxis again.
- The exhibition is on till November 17.
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