Art for the Holidays: A Latitudes Guide

As the year draws to a close, Latitudes takes a moment to look back on the challenging, yet transformative year of 2020. At the beginning of this year, the Latitudes team sat together planning the bigger and better physical fair on the rooftop of Sandton City. Just a few months later, they pivoted completely, launching an online platform that has exceeded expectations on every level.

Latitudes.Online has been viewed in 123 (of 195) countries, has shipped artworks across the world, and with over 500 artists from the continent represented on the site, it is well on its way to becoming the largest online platform for art from Africa. While 2020 was dedicated to setting up Latitudes.Online, 2021 is the year the platform will be taken to new heights. A huge thank you to everyone who has helped to support the creative economy and who has promoted art from Africa. Read about Latitudes’ journey here.

Art from Africa: Your Holiday Guide

Stone Lithography Editions created in the South of France Latitudes is thrilled to welcome Atelier le Grand Village to the platform. Founded by Francis van der Riet and situated in the south of France, it is a specialist studio where artists from Africa are invited to collaborate and revive the art of stone lithography.

All works are hand-made using French presses dating from the 1860s and are integrated with other techniques such as monotype, linogravure and photo plate lithography. You will find the work of artists such as Evans Mbugua, Bambo Sibiya, Mongezi Ncaphayi, Banele Khoza, Hanneke Benadé and Diane Victor amongst a range of Gerard Sekoto Prize-winning artists on residency at the Cité International des Arts in Paris. Featured: Hanneke Benadé, Embellish, 2020, stone lithograph.

The Astonishing Detailed Work of Mario Pedro Soares

Gallery 2 is excited to share Voyage, a solo exhibition by Mozambican artist, Mario Pedro Soares. After moving from Mozambique to South Africa in 2008, Soares initially worked as an embroiderer in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, before joining the Artist Proof Studio in 2010. Soares graduated in 2013 and proceeded to develop his skills in etching.

In this latest body of work he interrogates the metaphor of the road to explore his personal experiences of growing older and finding his place in a new country. As an immigrant, Soares chooses to use faceless and generalised ‘identity-less’ subjects as he feels it gives a voice to the ways in which immigrants seek to make themselves invisible in their new home country, fearful of entrenched xenophobia. Featured: Mario Pedro.

Ava Gallery Presents ‘In The Making’ in Partnership with Spier Arts Trust

Initiated as an artist development programme, the Nando’s Creative Exchange creates mentoring opportunities for artists to develop unique, personal narratives in their work while building the professional-practice skills vital for career development. In an online presentation, the AVA Gallery is proud to share In The Making as the culmination of this year’s programme. Featuring the works of Aviwe Plaatjie, Effo Munguanzo, Fanie Buys, and Qhamanande Maswana, the show is an exploration of contemporary portraiture. As the title suggests, this body of work is not about arriving at a certain place but rather the journey in moving towards it. Featured: Effo Munguanzo, Breast Free II, 2020,