“Memorabilia”- Aidon Westcott

Concluding my short series of articles on art on the fringe at this year’s Grahamstown Festival, Aidon Westcott’s mixed media work was refreshing, sincere and deeply rooted in the artist’s own experience.

Growing up in the East London area, Aidon is no stranger to the Nahoon Mouth and surrounding area and it is from this ongoing experience that he has developed both knowledge and love of the aquatic world.

His exhibition this year was called “Memorabilia” and took place at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity. He uses a combination of found objects from yesteryear, which he sees as fragments of a former culture and combines them with photomontage, painting and sculpture.

Aidon sees the objects that he chooses as deeply rooted in human consciousness. For him, fish symbolise the identification of a person’s true “self”. “They are a metaphor for the aesthetic and spiritual significance hidden in nature and human beings.”

Aidon received a degree from the former East London Technical College. He specialized in painting, sculpture and ceramics. While at the college, he achieved a number of accolades: in 2001 he was awarded the best all round student, in 2002, the best ceramic student, in 2003, the best fourth year student. In 2004 he held his first solo exhibition called “Symbiosis” at the Grahamstown Festival. In 2005 he held a similar exhibition called “The Fish Chronicles”. His work can also be seen at the Morgan Bay art gallery in East London.

Certainly, this year’s exhibition, “Meborabilia” was both interesting and thought provoking. In the piece, “The Spirit of the Transkei Fishermen” the memorabilia salutes the people, fishing with hand and line and passing on their knowledge from one generation to the next. In “The Enthusiast”, the memorabilia creates an environment of sacred objects treasured by one who is passionate about a hobby and who allows time for reflection. “Genesis” celebrates the birth of life through the depiction of the six stages of life inside an egg. This is seen as a metaphor for spiritual growth and new beginnings.

Working in mixed media enables Aidon to showcase his considerable talent in both painting and sculpture – a thought-provoking exhibition by a very talented young artist.

Kim Berman at Bayside Gallery

When I received an invitation from Sue Greenberg to attend the opening of ”Collection 2006”, at Bayside Gallery at the Bat Centre, Durban my expectations were fairly vague. Knowing that prints by Kim Berman were to feature strongly in the collection did little to dispel my preconceived ideas. Kim Berman, however, takes print – making to a new level. As senior lecturer and head of printmaking at The University of Johannesburg and director of Art Print Studios, she is an obvious leader in her field.

Three series of prints were chosen for the exhibition: The first a series of lithographs on fire and smoke entitled: “Through the wire, Lowveld fire”, the second, the mine dump series, consisting of a combination of monoprint and etching and the third, “Red ribbons on a pond” a series exploring a new and previously unexplored element. I found myself fascinated by the technical effects created by the combinations of printing techniques. The series “Through the wire, Lowveld fire” seemed to me more reminiscent of pastel painting and not printing at all.

Chatting to Kim was equally fascinating: She explained how the elements of earth and fire had been used as metaphors for social issues in her work. She had first explored fire as a metaphor for cleansing and purging during the time of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Her minescapes in the mine dump series, represent the paradox of the land: wealth and poverty, despair and hope, past and present - they explore a search for hope and healing in destruction. In the third series, flame tree blossoms like red ribbons on a pond, symbolize the senseless death of people through Aids.

Kim received a degree in Fine Art from Wits University in 1981 and a Master of Fine Arts in the USA in 1989. She has been involved in a number of community projects, such as the founding of a community printmaking centre in Newtown in 1992, the Paper Prayers campaign and a natural poverty alleviation campaign called Phumani Paper.

Kim has lectured and exhibited in South Africa and internationally. She has held solo exhibitions in Johannesburg, Belgium and the USA and is currently registered at Wits University for a PHD on the role of the visual arts in social change in South Africa.

“Collection 2006”, which includes work by ceramicists such as Karen Kotze, Hennie Meyer, John Newdigate, Karen Sinovich, Clive Sithole and Martha Zettler as well as fabric work by Zimeleni and handcrafted jewellery by Durban designers will be at Bayside Gallery until mid-January and is well worth a visit.