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Ihiya

Pieces. Particles. Perpetuity.

08 May – 10 June 2021

Windybrow Arts Centre 

“My grandfather told me that a Sangoma must be able to draw knowledge from what he called ‘the Hidden Lake.’ There is, he said, a huge unseen lake somewhere in the spirit world where all the knowledge of the universe — past, present, and future — is to be found. You must never again say that you do not know something. You must just ask the lake, the unseen lake, to provide you with the knowledge that you seek…”

Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, Dreams, Prophecies and Mysteries, 2003.

Ihiya is established around Faraday Muthi Market and Kwa Mai Mai. The critical factor that drives the idea for using the market as a space of learning and teaching for visual storytellers is that the market itself carries attributes towards knowledge cultivation through combustion of a vibrant market community. It intends to allow visual participants to experience a variation of storytelling methods, applying thought-through research development approaches and execution thereof in a collaborative way that allows for an independent individual position to emerge.

Ihiya provides a rich hive for students  to explore their inner motives and in that process of documentation gain significant skills and confidence in thinking, investigating, applying and making impactful ethical photographic stories. Visual narratives that  are inspired by multiple selves, “self” as a psychoanalytic concept composed of many different self-states with different affective, perceptual, and cognitive features.

This exhibition also includes the work of 2 photographers from Zimbabwe who photographed the Makokoba Market in Bulawayo. This market is similar to the Faraday Muthi Market and Kwa Mai Mai. All these markets are indicative of spaces across the continent that seek to keep the connection between traditional African beliefs in cosmopolitan urban contexts.

Participating photographers: 

Chris Dennis Rosenberg

Fezeka Jacqueline Mophethe

Lunathi Mngxuma

Ntombikayise Maureen Ntsibande

Fatma Fahmy Abdalaziz

Kabelo Mpotoane

Mandlenkosi Chinula

Nonkululeko Dube

Philadelphia Mahlambanyane

Thobeka Zwana

George Junior Mphoko

Sibusiso Thabo Thlopane

Cebile Ntuli

Mhondiwa Mhepo

Mgcini Nyoni

About the Market Photo Workshop

For over 30 years, the Market Photo Workshop has played a pivotal role in the training of South Africa’s photographers, ensuring that visual literacy reaches neglected and marginalized parts of our society. World-renowned photographer David Goldblatt contributed vastly to the establishment of Market Photo Workshop in 1988 – 1999. Since then, the Photo Workshop has been an agent of change and representation, informing photographers, visual artists, educators, students and broader communities of trends, issues, and debates in photography and visual culture.

About the Windybrow Arts Centre 

The Windybrow Arts Centre is the 4th of the Market Theatre Foundation’s Arts divisions, framing itself as a space for thought leadership, Literacy and Pan African Expression. Nestled in the small cultural Hub of New Doornfontein, the Heritage house stands out from between the modern city buildings, boasting Victorian architecture from a by-gone era. The old lady, built in 1896, is one of one the oldest and treasured of the Johannesburg Heritage houses, under the department of the National Department of Sports Arts and Culture. In partnership with residency company Honest Travel Experiences, The Windybrow Heritage house becomes a keen tourist destination with a growing number of visitors interested in learning about the Johannesburg Gold Rush of the 18th Century.

For more information, please contact:

Candice Jansen

Manager: Research and Exhibitions Programming

T +27 (0) 11 834 1444

E-mail: candicej@marketphotoworkshop.co.za

Zintle Radebe

Programmes Ofiicer

T +27 (0) 11 832 1641

E-mail: zintler@markettheatre.co.za