Art Book Recommendations: Proto | A4 Arts Foundation

Curator of Proto, Daniel Malan takes us through his top 5 artist book, featuring the poems, sketches, photographs and essays of these incredible South African artists.

 

Proto is the store at A4 Arts Foundation. Playing with the premise of the museum shop, the store collects tangible traces of art’s immaterial offerings, assembling thoughts, propositions, off-cuts and fragments. Positioned between the artist’s studio and an archive of projects at A4, Proto is a place where practitioners and publics meet. Gathering together original pieces, art books, vinyl, and contemporary artefacts, Proto is a space to collect, discover and interact with artistic practices and processes.

 

Click here to browse Proto's catalogue.

 

 

A book of poems, sketches and essays, published by Snail Press in 1991 by artist, writer and activist, Peter Clarke.

 

 

"In this book, art historian Elza Miles traces the development of this singular artist - from her early, meticulously detailed works, evoking the textual richness of embroideries and tapestries, of landscapes painted from memory and imagination, depicting idyllic rural lifestyles, and large mystical bird forms, to her later works depicting urban scenes and simplification of shapes, enlivened with broad sweeping brushstrokes of colour." Taken from the dust jacket.

 

 

The 52 black and white photographs in this collection capture a rather seedy side of the city and the lives of its inhabitants. Taken between 1996 and 1998, Williams says the photographs represent a time in his life rather than document the city. It appears to have been a gloomy time for him, or perhaps it's just the effect of black and white pictures. There's none of the inner city's skyscrapers or pavement hawkers or taxi depots. Rather, the photographs show Joburgers doing ordinary things – lying and reading in a park; hanging out in Hillbrow; chatting to neighbours over the fence; begging on a street corner – but mostly looking unhappy about these activities.​

 

 

South African photographer Lindokuhle Sobekwa (born 1995) began this project after finding a family portrait with his sister Ziyanda's face cut out. He describes her as a secretive, rebellious and rough presence and recalls the dark day when she chased him and he was hit by a car: she disappeared hours later and returned only a decade later, ill. By this time, Sobekwa had become a photographer and realized the family had no picture of her. However, Ziyanda died before he could photograph her.

 

Employing a scrapbook aesthetic with handwritten notes, I Carry Her Photo with Me is a means for Sobekwa to engage both with the memory of his sister and the wider implications of such disappearances--a troubling part of South Africa's history. The book complements his wider work on fragmentation, poverty and the long-reaching ramifications of apartheid and colonialism across all levels of South African society.

 

 

Miles' book, "Lifeline out of Africa: the art of Ernest Mancoba," uncovers Mancoba's life and work through extensive research and interviews. She places his achievements in the context of his time and provides a comprehensive overview of his art. While acknowledging gaps in the historical record, Miles's thoroughness makes her book a significant contribution to the study of black South African artists. Her meticulous scholarship and clear writing make Mancoba's story accessible to a wider audience, fulfilling her goal of bringing his work back to South Africa.