​The Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) will draw inspiration from its vast collection of artworks when hosting a virtual exhibition that showcases the contemporary landscape of social beliefs and politics, and how these intertwine in a modern context.

Dubbed Ngoma II: Cosmology in African Modernities, the digital exhibition curated by Khwezi Gule seeks to explore the interrelation between art and spirituality, cultural practices, mythologies and cosmologies while demystifying intricacies of African modernity.

Gule, a Chief Curator at JAG, will host visitors on a virtual walkabout of the exhibition on Sunday, 13 June between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The event will also feature a live performance from the Medumo Ya Afrika ensemble, billed to play alongside Masello Motana. The event will stream live from JAG in the Inner City and members of the public can attend through this link: https://web.facebook.com/JoburgCulture.

A sequel to the Ngoma: Art and Cosmology exhibition initially held at the historic gallery two years ago, Ngoma II features existing works from JAG’s extensive library of contemporary and antique artworks to interpret a modern-day social context.

“The artworks assembled in this exhibition offer us glimpses into how our ancestors and present-day artists have adapted to modernity, coloniality and the shifting landscape of spirituality,” explains Gule.

He says art in the African context has always been woven into the fabric of both spirituality and mundane existence, and this is what Ngoma II seeks to dissect, adding that the exhibition represents deeply held societal beliefs and how this is evolving.

“Modernity and colonialism not only changed the African way of life but also how we understand the cosmos and our place in it. Art is not only a decorative endeavour but it is also a way of knowing, a means of representing that which is beyond the everyday speech,” Gule says.

Although some of the artworks on display are not devotional objects, the JAG Curator notes that they represent ways in which life, morality, futurity and imagination come together.

“Some Africans converted into the denominations of the missionaries including Catholics, Methodists and Anglicans. Others chose to retain their traditional beliefs and customs. Others started independent African churches such as the Shembe Church and the Zion Christian Church.”

Gule asserts that modernity also brought with it new artistic materials. “Hence we see artists substituting traditional glass beads with plastic beads and incorporating text and modern objects like aeroplanes into the imagery,” he says.

He argues that for some, art offers possibilities, both overt and covert, of resisting the colonial ways of being and colonial forms of representation or misrepresentation.

“In this way, art is not only a means of contending and contesting the place of African people in global modernities but also a way of writing themselves into the history of the world,” he explains.

Gule says Ngoma II will also explore the fact that Africans are no longer mere objects of Western acquaintance but producers of indigenous knowledge.

The Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Community Development, Cllr Margaret Arnolds encourages residents of Joburg to explore the exhibition online.

“The works in Ngoma II: Cosmology in African Modernities bring to the fore the entanglements of historical, physical, metaphysical and existential spheres of existence,” Cllr Arnolds enthuses.

Telephone Colin Groenewald, JAG’s Education Officer on 011 725 3130 or email coling@joburg.org.za for more information.