The exhibition is divided into three gallery rooms. “The middle room has drawings of pieces of clothing that Jan hand-washed and dried on those same wires. He drew each piece of clothing, who it was gifted by and what it is made of,” said Rabia Abba Omar, GUS Curatorial Intern. PHOTO: Mia van der Merwe
An exhibition at the Gallery University Stellenbosch (GUS) served to explore the power dynamics between European and African relationships at GUS, said Rabia Abba Omar, GUS curatorial intern.
The exhibition, titled ‘Mitumba: Invasive Species’, that was on show in late March, enabled artist Jan van Esch to explore and illustrate Marcel Mauss’s idea of gift-giving through his art, he explained.
Mauss was a sociologist known for his theory of reciprocity. He believed that gift giving was not a voluntary exchange as “[gifts] are given and repaid under obligation”. This is according to Mauss’s essay, ‘The Gift’.
“In order to successfully connect and balance human relationships”, gift giving must be a process of reciprocity, said Van Esch. He explained that giving and receiving gifts should be an interaction that is mutually beneficial.
Van Esch questions how second-hand ‘gifts’ from Europe to an “unknown broader Africa” impact the local economies that are already manufacturing clothes, according to Omar.
“Building off his development work in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania, he [Van Esch] began questioning the role that Europe plays in gifting, especially [unwanted second-hand] clothes to Africa,” said Omar.
‘Mitumba: Invasive Species’ is a multi-media art exhibition of second-hand clothes by artist Jan van Esch. The exhibition is a commentary on the power dynamics between European and African countries, said Rabia Abba Omar, GUS curatorial intern. Africa is often ‘gifted’ unwanted items by Europe and this exhibition questions the intent thereof. Gift giving must be a process of reciprocity, according to Van Esch. PHOTO: Mia van der Merwe
Switching power dynamics
The exhibition is divided into three gallery rooms. The first gallery room has an installation piece titled ‘DressMeUp4Europe’, said Omar. Featured are “clothes that have been gifted by people in Stellenbosch to give to Europe after this exhibition”, explained Omar.
The second and third rooms included drawings and videos of second-hand clothes hanging on washing lines to further emphasise the notion of receiving unwanted clothes, said Omar.
“I think it’s important to ask these thought-provoking questions as a third-world country,” stated Owen Harrison, a spectator at GUS. “It’s easy to just walk into a thrift shop, or drive to Observatory [in Cape Town] and look for some clothes, but to actually think where some of it might come from and the idea of it is actually quite unsettling,” elaborated Harrison.
“That is actually clothes that have been gifted by people in Stellenbosch to give to Europe after this exhibition,” said Rabia Abba Omar, GUS Curatorial Intern. PHOTO: Mia van der Merwe