Exhibitions

More than 30 varied exhibitions, put together over the past three decades, are stored at the UWC-robben island mayibuye archive, and they are ideal for use in educational programmes.

In 1978 IDAF was commissioned by the European Parliament to produce an exhibition on Mandela for its opening. IDAF subsequently prepared a portable exhibition, and a number of other remarkable portable exhibitions soon followed. ldren Under Apartheid and Women Under Apartheid were both sponsored by the UN Centre Against Apartheid; the latter exhibition was especially made for the World Conference of the UN Decade for Women.

Among other removable exhibitions are Beyond the Barricades and its sequel, Beyond the Handshake; The Struggle Against Apartheid, a trail-blazing pictorial history of the liberation struggle that travelled in tandem with the Anne Frank international exhibition to 10 South African cities; and Mzabalaza, a pictorial history of the ANC, printed as a portable exhibition and picture book on the eve of South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. Margins to Mainstream, an exhibition of six ‘lost photographers’ who, because of apartheid, never received due recognition, was displayed at the Grahamstown arts festival and selected for the Africa ‘95 Arts Festival in the United Kingdom.

More recent exhibitions include Builders of the Nation, depicting the history of labour in South Africa; this was displayed at the International Labour Organisation in Geneva. You Have Struck a Rock, a history of the struggle of women in South Africa, was displayed on Women’s Day at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. These and other printed portable exhibitions are convenient for use in programmes for schools and community events.