I Hope This Finds You Well / From the Bottom of My Black Art is a two-part exhibition that returns the Imvaba Art Association to the National Arts Festival more than thirty-five years after their last appearance at the Festival.
Formed during apartheid in the Eastern Cape, Imvaba used art, poetry, and collective cultural production as tools for political resistance and community expression. This exhibition focuses primarily on their paintings which they referred to as Big Posters/ Mobile Murals.
Presented across two gallery spaces in Makhanda, the project asks how black artistic practices shaped by struggle, resistance, collaboration and lived experience can exist within contemporary gallery and museum spaces without losing their social and political urgency.
At the Albany Museum, I Hope This Finds You Well engages the Imvaba archive through exhibition display as well as live conservation processes taking place throughout the festival. Visitors will encounter archival materials, banners, and artworks alongside conservators actively repairing, preserving, and handling historical objects in public view, revealing the labour involved as well as the importance of sustaining black cultural memory.
At the Raw Spot Gallery, From the Bottom of My Black Art transforms the gallery into an interactive environment where audiences are invited to move through the space, respond to the work, and leave their own traces behind.
Together, the exhibitions question the boundaries of the gallery space and explore how black art histories might be preserved, activated, and experienced as living cultural practices rather than distant historical objects.
Artist Biography
Imvaba Art Association
Imvaba Art Association was founded in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) in 1986 during the height of apartheid’s State of Emergency (1986). Working across visual art, poetry, mural production, and community cultural activism, Imvaba emerged as a collective of artists committed to making art visible throughout communities in the Eastern Cape.
The organisation worked closely with artists and cultural workers in New Brighton, KwaZakhele, and Motherwell, while also collaborating with anti-apartheid structures including trade unions and community organisations.
Rather than separating art from everyday political life, Imvaba understood cultural production as part of the broader struggle for dignity, liberation, and social transformation. The collective became known for producing banners, murals, posters, exhibitions, and workshops that connected artistic practice to community participation and political education. Their work was exhibited locally and internationally, including presentations at the Grahamstown Festival in 1990 and 1991 and the Art from South Africa exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art Oxford in 1990.
Imvaba’s members included artists such as George Pemba, Lou Almon, Naomi MacKay, Mpumelelo Melane, Michael Barry, Sipho Kulati, Mxolisi Ganto, Lizo Pemba, Titus Pemba, Ayanda Mji, Mxolisi Dolla Sapeta and others who contributed to shaping one of the Eastern Cape’s most significant histories of community-based cultural resistance.
Credits
Curated by: Motlalepula Phukubje
Featuring: Imvaba Art Association, Banele Njadayi, Phumlile Rawana, Vuyo Giba, Khaya Ngcangca, Nadia Foster, Lucreshia Abdool, Tuliwe Mbambaza, Nozuko Mangkwana
In collaboration with: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, The UWC Robben Island Mayibuye Archives
Exhibition venues: Albany Museum and Raw Spot Gallery
Archival and research support: The UWC Robben Island Mayibuye Archives (Art and Artefacts, Audio-Visual and Historical Papers Collection), Africa South Art Initiative
Conservation support: The UWC Robben Island Mayibuye Archives, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum and Anthony Keogh
With works and archival material by: Members of the Imvaba Art Association, Banele Njadayi, Phumlile Rawana, Vuyo Giba, Khaya Ngcangca, Nadia Foster, Lucreshia Abdool, Tuliwe Mbambaza, Nozuko Mangkwana
Supported by: Rhodes University- SARChI Chair NRF and National Arts Festival
- Grahamstown Gallery
- Albany History Museum
- Daily during the Festival 09:00 to 17:00
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Daily entry to the exhibitions is free. The scheduled walkabouts have a minimal cost and booking is essential.
