The Visual Identities in
Art and Design Research Centre (VIAD), University of Johannesburg, takes
pleasure in inviting you to the opening of the landmark and
timeous exhibition, Promises and Lies: The ANC, Exile & The Project of Freedom.
 |
| Laurie Sparham. Jacob Zuma at welcoming reception for released ANC leaders. Tanzania 1990.© |
PROMISES AND LIES – THE
ANC, EXILE & THE PROJECT OF FREEDOM.
 |
| Reverend Osmers who lost his hand after opening a bomb parcel sent by an apartheid death squad 1989.© |
The years 1989-1991 marked a world in transition, with
revolutions in the Eastern Bloc, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and in South
Africa, the dismantling of apartheid. Events critical to the latter transition
– from white minority rule to multiracial democracy – included the unbanning of
organisations like the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan African
Congress (PAC); the return of political exiles; the release of Nelson Mandela
and other political prisoners; and the initiation of political negotiations in
the country. All photographs by Laurie Sparham©
 |
| Umkhontowe'Sizwe members in the library at the ANC headquarters in Lusaka. 1989.© |
 |
| Chris Hani in Tanzania. 1990.© |
The past three years have signaled in South Africa another kind
of turning-point – a critical shift, charged by student-lead protests aimed at
forms of institutionalised racism and the slow pace of transformation in
universities; the increasing proliferation of service-delivery protests across
the country; and in general, a growing disenchantment with the social
imaginaries of ‘Rainbowism’ and the ‘New South Africa’. In addition to this,
charges of corruption, mismanagement and state-capture have brought Government
and the integrity of the ANC into disrepute.
 |
| Umkhontowe'Sizwe soldiers at the ANC's Lusaka headquarters in Zambia 1989.© |
Commissioned by the ANC, taken by award-winning British
photographer Laurie Sparham, and collated by curator and filmmaker Dr Siona
O’Connell, the photographs in this exhibition chronicle the experience of ANC
exiles living in Tanzania and Zambia from 1989-1990. Shelved for over
twenty-five years, this important photographic archive speaks to the
aspirations of the liberation struggle – and, in the interests of an as-of-yet
unrealised freedom, poses difficult questions around history and its resonances
in the present.
 |
| ANC youth training. Zambia 1989.© |
Featuring a probing documentary by O’Connell, titled Promises
& Lies – Fault Lines in the ANC, the exhibition offers
viewers a chance to consider the sacrifices of political exile and the promise
of freedom that was its aspiration, in relation to a current landscape of
political and economic crisis in which contemporary South Africans are
personally and collectively complicit. This provocative new exhibition offers a
necessary and timeous platform for creative encounters and critical dialogue
around collective memory, accountability and the ongoing demand for active
citizenry.
 |
| Reg September, Joe Slovo and Jacob Zuma attend a funeral for a slain ANC member. Tanzania 1990.© |
Join the conversation : # P r o m i s
e s A n d L i e s
FADA Gallery
Bunting Road Campus, FADA Building, University of Johannesburg
Opening hours: Tues-Fri 09h00-16h00, Sat 09h00-13h00
Closed Mondays and public holidays.
www.viad.co.za / https://www.facebook.com/viad.fada
For more information contact:
James Macdonald
+27(0) 84 566 2121 / jmacdonald@uj.ac.za
Media & and Press:
Lindsay McDonald
+27(0) 76 101 0421 / lindsay@invictuscomm.com
