Exhibition – Black Folk | Institute for Creative Arts

The Gordon Institute for Performing Arts (GIPCA), in association with the Michaelis Galleries and hosted by Iziko Museums of South Africa, presents the 2012 Donald Gordon Creative Arts Fellow, Jared Thorne’s exhibition Black Folk. The exhibition, the culmination of Thorne’s Fellowship at the University of Cape Town will be on show at the Iziko South African National Gallery Annexe from 28 November until 19 January 2013.

Thorne embarked on a transcontinental search for expressions of Black middle class culture. Seeking to challenge hegemonic, as well as self-imposed constructs of Black identity, his work centers on issues of race, class and gender and engages questions of authenticity, representation and history. He challenges viewers to redefine their conceptual understanding of modern Black culture. Thorne asks why so many Black Africans find the Mother City’s embrace suffocating instead of welcoming.

“Paramount in my work and research is how social class plays a significant role in defining how one witnesses ‘Blackness’,” comments Thorne. Through photography and audio interviews, he seeks to facilitate extensive visual and verbal dialogue on how identity is created in the global south, specifically in Cape Town. Combining large format film photographs alongside excerpts from various interviews, Thorne hopes to present a new vision of Black South Africans.

Jared Thorne grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. He holds a BA in English from Dartmouth College, a Postgraduate certificate from the San Francisco Art Institute and a Masters Degree from Columbia University. He has worked as a journalist at CNN, where he was a member of an Emmy award-winning team in 2006. Thorne has served as a lecturer at Queens College, Columbia University, and currently teaches in Stellenbosch Academy’s photography department.

The exhibition opens on Wednesday 28 November at 19:00 at the Iziko South African National Gallery Annexe, St’ Johns Road and runs until 19 January. Gallery hours are 10:00 – 17:00, Monday Friday. For more information, please contact: nadja.daehnke@uct.ac.za or +27 21 480 7170.