EXHIBITIONS

ART INSTALLATION: CHURCHILL MADIKIDA
IN THE FOYER OF MEDICAL SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, JOHANNESBURG

Churchill Madikida is the first artist who has been invited by the Board of Control of the Adler Museum of Medicine to do an installation in the Medical School foyer, using objects from the Johannesburg Hospital and the Adler Museum of Medicine?s collection.

The installation, entitled Status II, 2006, is the artist?s further exploration into the theme of HIV/AIDS on which he has focused for a number of years. The title, according to the artist, ?is an expression used by most people to classify one?s character based on ancestry, intellect, income, where one lives, what one drives, who one is seen with and recently the condition of whether you are HIV positive.? He uses the ambiguity of the word and its broad context to point out that this deadly virus does not care about class: it transcends all boundaries such as gender, class, race and sexuality. He chose this theme once again to use visual arts as a medium to intensify awareness about HIV/AIDS; as an important milestone in the work of Art for Humanity; to show that art is a social advocacy medium; to open up new ways to break the silence about the pandemic and create a climate of greater tolerance that will make it possible for communities to explore more openly what they have historically dealt with in secrecy. He says: ?Art played a critical role in the fight against apartheid and it can play an even bigger role in the war against the HIV/AIDS pandemic? . This exhibition is about my personal journey [his sister, to whom he was very close, died of AIDS in April 2005] but reflects on millions of other people?s experiences?.

The art work consists of an installation using items from the Johannesburg Hospital and the Adler Museum of Medicine?s collection, and portrays a section of a hospice as a place of survival: physically, emotionally and spiritually. A video piece, Virus, alludes to the spread of HIV in a person?s body and how it spreads within communities, societies, nations and the world.

The installation will be part of a major exhibition on HIV/AIDS which the Museum is planning as part of its permanent exhibition in 2006.

Churchill Madikida was born in Butterworth, Eastern Cape, in 1973. He obtained a BA(FA) degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in 2001 and is currently completing a MA(FA) at that institution.

He has participated in group shows since 1998 and held his first solo exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 2003. In 2003 he was joint winner of the Tollman Art Award and is the Standard Bank Young Artist award winner for visual art for 2006.

Madikida lives and works in Johannesburg.

Where it all began: Churchill combing the storeroom of the Johannesburg Hospital. Objects from the Johannesburg Hospital and the Adler Museum of Medicine have been used in the installation.

Why art at the Adler Museum of Medicine?

The Museum already holds annual art exhibitions as part of its temporary exhibitions programme. These are: Expressions of art competition for students and Health Profession Art Society exhibition, both generously sponsored by Adcock Ingram. The Board of Control of the Adler Museum has extended this thrust in two ways: by commissioning a small number of artists to produce works of art for the foyer of Medical School, using the Museum?s collection as part of the artwork or installation and by establishing an art exhibition space in the Museum.

Selection will be limited to artists producing work which will be of specific interest to health science students, school learners and the general public in a museum of this nature and will be tailored around the undergraduate teaching programme of the Faculty and artists dealing with health and social issues will be invited to exhibit their work.

The intentions of this initiative are to: enhance the foyer of Medical School by the installation of appropriate contemporary artworks by South African artists; ensure wider access to many more objects than can be accommodated in the Museum itself by increasing the number of objects displayed; open the Museum to a much wider audience, thereby increasing the visibility of the Museum and Medical School; enrich the perspectives of medical and other health professions students and to enhance their understanding of contemporary art-making in this country