Snails are part of the process of a unique art exhibition that can be viewed at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum in Bloemfontein during the Vrystaat Arts Festival from 15 to 19 July.
Sonya Rademeyer, as well as volunteers, have been working on the solo exhibition What Remains Through Time, Slowness and Stillness, which can be visited in the Reservoir at Oliewenhuis. The exhibition is a collection of different, but in some ways related, installations.
“It is a layered exhibition and we collaborated not only with the community, but also live snails. The exhibition explores the notion of historical erosion and cultural erasure due to early colonisation through traces created by more-than-human-kin,” she explains.
This is a three-month exhibition that includes different phases. Around eight months ago Rademeyer started collecting snails and placing them live in a 4m glass box, where they started eating into high-end Fabriano art paper.
These paper works of art will become an evolving art installation in the space, and visitors will be able to view the snails where they go about helping out with this work.
The second part was done in collaboration with the Merake Cultural Village and the Sekoele Holistic Living Arts Centre. Volunteers helped to build a Cultural Wall in the Reservoir. Earth was rammed into tyres to solidify the structure and a creative grass wall, or meraka, was constructed.
The final phase will be the art exhibition during the Vrystaat Arts Festival.
The opening of What Remains Through Time will coincide with those of two other exhibitions at Oliewenhuis: One Thing Leads to Another by Bronwen Findlay and Soliloquy: The Untold Story of Sleeping Beauty’s Dreams by Lisa Ledwich.
The opening is on Tuesday, 15 July, at 18:00 – with a walkabout on 16 July.
