Unearthing the Unseen | Our Cape Town Heritage

DIgital Archival Research Library (DARL)

UNEARTHING THE UNSEEN

EXHIBITION PHYSICAL AND ONLINE

CALL FOR ARTISTS

We invite artists to apply for our next visual art and culture exhibition exploring Table Mountain as a living archive of memory, movement, spirituality, refuge, conflict and resistance. We are looking for visual and interdisciplinary artists working across painting, sculpture, installation, photography, textiles, sound, video, performance, digital art and mixed media. The exhibition will be presented at Desmond Tutu House and will include a physical exhibition, public programme, online gallery, projection and digital interpretation. We are looking for artists who can transform our historical research into original, accessible, and meaningful creative experiences that audiences can learn from.

We welcome applications from visual and interdisciplinary artists working in fields including:

Painting and drawing.
Sculpture and installation.
Photography and printmaking.
Textile and fibre.
Ceramics
Digital art.
Mixed-media.

Artists from historically underrepresented, disadvantaged or vulnerable communities (including women, youth and people with disabilities) are strongly encouraged to apply.

Some exhibition themes to consider:

Indigenous connection

The spiritual, cultural and historical relationships between First Peoples and Table Mountain.

Colonial power

The mountain as a marker of territory, ownership, control and colonial authority.

Landscapes of freedom

Table Mountain as a place of refuge, movement and resistance for enslaved people, Drosters and others who sought freedom, including Cape Malay heritage.

Excluded histories

The lived experiences of communities whose stories have been omitted, silenced or distorted in official records.

Artists are encouraged to develop independent creative interpretations. The exhibition will guide your work through research, but will not prescribe a single style or medium.