Art Exhibition

Description:

An exhibition exploring allegory from the permanent collection

Curated by Vaughn Sadie

Iin the 119 years of its existence the Durban Art has witnessed and recorded ideological and political shifts that have shaped our country and the city of Durban. To date DAG has built a permanent collection of over 6000 works. This record / archive bears testament to the impact that these shifts and changes have had on people, situations and places.


Conflicting Contexts, curated by Vaughn Sadie, explores the conflicts inherent within the collection. A collection which has, over the last century had to cater to the varying aesthetics and values of changing administrations.

With key works from DAG’s Victorian collection as its departure point. Represent the prevailing themes of the period: war, landscape and idylls. Each has been carefully juxtaposed against more contemporary depictions of similar themes. The placement of the works, in relation to each other, affords the viewer the opportunity to reflect on aspects of social history and the universal nature of recurring themes.


With the current focus on 2010, Conflicting Contexts allows viewers the chance to reflect on the histories and narratives reflected in DAG’s permanent collection while lending insight into how South Africa’s present and immediate future will continue to be recorded and mythologised.