Modern African art gets pride of place in bold new Cape Town gallery

Among the influential pieces in Zeitz’s collection now returned to African soil is the work by Angolan photographer Edson Chagas, whose installation at the Venice Biennale in 2013 won him the Golden Lion prize and worldwide recognition.

Now housed in the tunnels of the gallery’s basement level, the work invites visitors to take home one of its thousands of images, which chief curator Mark Coetzee describes as an act of “great generosity”.

“That piece then starts to exist in the community around us,” he said.

– ‘I think we’ve arrived’ –

Gabon’s Owanto, who uses a wide range of media including light-boxes, paint and video, said the opening of the new space had left her “full of emotion”.

“It’s quite amazing to think all the artists of Africa will have such an amazing place to speak,” said the artist, who goes by just one name.

Making the space accessible to locals was also a priority for the project, one of the most significant new African cultural spaces in decades.

Entrance to the museum will be free for African passport holders every Wednesday.

“Because of the history of apartheid, most of our public museums in this country were not accessed by most people,” Coetzee said.

“For us as an institution it’s very important to empower not only the voice and the narrative coming out of Africa, but also the audience — so they can actually see their own cultural production and develop a sense of pride in the production of the artists that are representing them.”

But the choice to house the museum in Cape Town, a city criticised as less African than continental powerhouses like Lagos and Nairobi, has drawn some criticism.

Forced removals of non-whites during apartheid and modern-day gentrification have compounded the perception that the city caters more to wealthy tourists than its own residents.

“What is important is that we are here now,” said South African multi-disciplinary artist Thania Petersen.

“The only way to change things is by being present in these spaces. I think we’ve arrived.”