The Quiet Violence of Dreams Exhibition at Stevenson Gallery

Artists from across the globe use their craft to pay tribute to this novelist who told raw stories and inspired others to do the same through their art

The Stevenson Gallery presents an ode to the Kabelo ‘Sello’ Duiker novel The Quiet Violence of Dreams in their latest exhibition.  Forming the core of the exhibition is a collection of mixed media from artists such as Lyle Ashton Harris and Raphaël Barontini which delves into themes of race, sexuality and despair. The showcase will run from Thursday, 21 July to Saturday, 27 August 2016.

Joost Bosland and Moshekwa Langa have worked together to curate an exhibition that tackles subjects of love, race, violence, sexuality, mental health and poverty. In his novel, the now deceased Duiker tells the story of Tshepo, a student living in Cape Town – where the novel is set – who becomes a sex worker at a gay massage parlour. The tale travels through the city and shows different aspects of the Cape Town experience from the lavish manors found on the Atlantic Seaboard to the poverty riddled streets of Nyanga. Duiker rose to fame during a time when there was a great demand for black artists and connected with other creative minds who were telling their stories of post-apartheid South Africa.

The Quiet Violence of Dreams exhibition will feature art pieces by Glenn Ligon, Lyle Ashton Harris and Zanele Muholi to name a few. Muholi’s Only Half the Picture series of photographs raises the issue of sexual violence and will be exhibited in Cape Town for the first time in a decade. French artist Raphaël Barontini will be exhibiting paintings that centre on multi-ethnicity in an urban society while Lebanese filmmaker Akram Zaatari’s film How I Love You explores love and sexuality in a conservative environment.

Instead of a catalogue, the exhibition will be used to generate a ‘Kabelo ‘Sello’ Duiker reader’ that will be filled with musings on Duiker’s life and career from people who knew him as well as an essay contemplating visual arts that the novelist himself wrote.

Make a turn at Café Ganesh – which features prominently in the novel –  in Observatory for the after party from 8pm to 10pm and enjoy Buhlebezwe Siwani’s renditions of music from the early 2000s, the timeframe in which the novel is set.

ENTRY TO THE QUIET VIOLENCE OF DREAMS EXHIBITION AT STEVENSON GALLERY

Entrance to the Stevenson Gallery is FREE and they are open from Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and on Saturdays from 10am to 1pm. The exhibition will be showcased from 6pm to 8pm.

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Interested in other local exhibitions around the city? Take a look at our list of galleries in Cape Town and check out our July events so you don’t miss a single shindig.

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