By Nangamso Mabindla
4 October 2006

EAST London is getting ready to host one of the biggest art exhibitions in the country. The MTN Messages and Meaning art project, a major touring exhibition with a collection of some of South Africa and Africa's best artworks, will be on show at the Ann Bryant Gallery from 12 October.

The project comprises an exhibition of more than 100 works and is part of the cellphone company's art collection. It includes works from leading African artists like internationally renowned Ghanaian Kwesi Owusu-Ankomah and Nigeria's Yinke Shonibare.

Talking about how East London was picked to host this exhibition, Ann Bryant Gallery curator Leon du Preez says he attended an MTN exhibition at Fort Hare University in Alice and decided to approach the organisers about the possibility of hosting the exhibition.

"To my great surprise they agreed to it and we are now hosting this very important exhibition," he adds.

Messages and Meaning aims to highlight the importance of communication, while reflecting art as a valuable tool to teach people how to communicate. "Art is where everything starts and this exhibition teaches us that it should play an important role in encouraging communication between different people in society," Du Preez says.

Turning his attention to the benefits of hosting such an exhibition, he says: "Our local artists will be exposed to continental artwork. Hopefully that will encourage them to take art very seriously."

However, for youngsters to be interested in art they need to be educated about it, and Eloise Mogg, from the Friends of the Gallery, says there also will be an educational programme to encourage children from disadvantaged areas to take an interest in art.

"A team of students from leading tertiary institutions will visit high schools in Mdantsane, Gompo, Duncan Village and other areas as part of a special art project aimed at expanding the knowledge of South African and African art at these high schools," she says.

The team will comprise of 14 students from the Buffalo City FET College and the Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela universities. They will be taught guiding skills and will learn about a range of artworks and related concepts at the Ann Bryant Gallery. The training will be done by the Messages and Meaning exhibition curator, Philippa Hobbs.

"This outreach project will also reach rural schools and we already have over 30 schools that have booked to be part of [it]," Mogg says. "If we get more we will be very happy. We would like the gallery to be viewed as a place of learning, an educational institution that provides vision to our society."

She called on the municipality to assist the gallery in its efforts to bring big art exhibitions like the Messages and Meaning project to Buffalo City. The exhibition will be a draw card especially to creative children in the townships who have not yet enjoyed access to world class art in a gallery environment.

Morning and afternoon sessions for high school groups will run between Monday, 16 October and Friday, 3 November. High schools that have not yet booked their learners in these one-hour sessions, or that wish to enquire about transport to the gallery, can contact the Ann Bryant Gallery on 043 722 4044.