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Lost township art returns to SA

26 July 2005

"Lost" works by artists living in South Africa's strife-torn townships in the 1970s and 1980s are to return home.

Many of the works, chronicling the turbulence of the last two decades of apartheid and unappreciated in their own country, were bought by diplomats and others visiting South Africa.

They found there way to boardrooms and private collections in the US, UK, Australia, Canada and elsewhere.

Now, Ifa Lethu - the Homecoming Foundation - is working to bring the artwork back to South Africa. Headed by Mamphela Ramphele, chair of Circle Capital Ventures and former MD of the World Bank, Ifa Lethu already has a substantial collection of township art.

This collection is set to grow after the BHP Billiton Development Trust (BBDT) handed over a R1-million contribution to the foundation.

'Men and women of courage'

At the handover at the BHP Billiton SA headquarters in downtown Johannesburg last week, company chair Vincent Maphai said art was essential to the growth of a nation.

"Works of art are the soul of the people, their history," he said. "Once they are gone, they are gone forever. This project seeks to reclaim the works of unsung people of the townships in the 1970s and 1980s. These were men and women of courage, who worked under the most difficult circumstances."

The two-year-old Ifa Lethu project began when Australian diplomat Diane Johnstone, who served in South Africa in the 1970s, donated a historically important collection of South African art to the foundation.

During her time in the country she built strong links with artists working in the apartheid townships. Her aim was to donate the works back to the country once South Africa had gained its freedom - which it did with the first democratic elections in 1994.

Johnstone's donation brought to light the fact that a significant body of similar artwork, produced during the depths of apartheid and of great cultural significance to South Africa, was in foreign collections.

'Reconstruction of the soul'

Ramphele said the art would help in the process of making South Africans a proud people.

"Our aim is to bring our lost art home, where South Africans can learn from its depictions of township life in the dark days of apartheid," she said.

"This art will help in what Madiba so aptly called the reconstruction and development of the soul. Without art like it, we will always be a wounded, scarred nation."

The Department of Arts and Culture provided R4.5-million over three years to Ifa Lethu, with the proviso that this be matched by private sector contributions. The R1-million from BHP Billiton is the first major contribution of this kind, making the company a founding patron.

"In business terms, this is what we call a first-entry advantage," Maphai said with a smile.

'People matter, history matters'

BHP Billiton is recognised internationally for its own art collection. An SA-rooted global mining group, the company has interests in Australia, Canada, the Gulf of Mexico, South Africa and elsewhere. BHP Billiton donates 1% of its pre-tax profits to corporate social responsibility projects - some R66-million in the financial year ending in June 2005.

"The strong Australian link to this project made the BBDT an obvious first choice for us to approach as a sponsor," said Ramphele. "The company has demonstrated its commitment to creating a positive and conducive environment for business growth in this country.

"With support from business, our project will help build a value system to complement the growth of our economy and society," she said. "Central to this system will be that people matter, that history matters - that South Africans are a proud people."

The Ifa Lethu collection will be housed at the Pretoria Art Museum in Tshwane, from where it will tour art galleries across the country.

SAinfo reporter