Exhibiting 'Africa' in Africa - an impossible conundrum? Take 2 : collecting and curating
In November 2011, the Wits Art Museum (WAM) acquired a major work, a very large sculpture by the recently deceased artist Jackson Hlungwani. This work, whose title may be God's Hand, was removed from a building in downtown Johannesburg where it had resided since being purchased 1992, and placed in a corner of the new WAM, where it will most likely spend the next 20 years. It is not the only work by Jackson Hlungwani to have achieved such permanent viewing status: the giant Adam and the Birth of Eve, acquired by the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) in 1989, and installed there by the artist (Spiro Cohen 1992 & 1993), has been on view since its arrival and has remained in its place throughout the run of many prestigious exhibitions held at JAG, including 'Africa Remix' (Njami 2008). In WAM, the Hand of God has joined Hlungwani's Altar for God which is situated at the main entrance off the street, but also visible from the street. This famous work, acquired for the Standard Bank Collection of African Art at Wits in 1989, will also not be moved easily, having now been given its own place on a raised platform of hardened steel.