Henk Serfontein
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henkserfontein.bsky.social
Henk Serfontein
@henkserfontein.bsky.social
Visual artist. Occasional writer. Community Arts facilitator. Charcoal and dirty feet. Fragile flora.

📍Cape Town. South-Africa.🇿🇦🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
I just saw this news about Athol Fugard. His influence on my perception of theatre was profound -- The Blood Knot, A Lesson From Aloes, The Road to Mecca and Master Harold especially. A playwright both political and profoundly humane. www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/m...
Athol Fugard, South African political dissident playwright, dies aged 92
A giant of political drama, Fugard captured the injustices of apartheid in works such as Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island
www.theguardian.com
March 9, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
New: Playwright Athol Fugard has died at 92.

“There may be two or three living playwrights in the world who can write as well as Athol Fugard,” Frank Rich wrote, “but I’m not sure any of them has written a recent play that can match ‘Master Harold … and the Boys.’”

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/09/o...
Athol Fugard, South African Playwright Who Dissected Apartheid, Dies at 92 (Gift Article)
In works that included “Blood Knot,” “Sizwe Banzi Is Dead” and “The Island,” he exposed the realities of racial separatism in his homeland.
www.nytimes.com
March 10, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
Pioneering artist of flora and fauna Maria Sibylla Merian died #otd, 13 January, in 1717 (age 69 years), in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
She is the subject of a forthcoming monograph in our #IlluminatingWomenArtists series co-published with Getty Publications.
www.lundhumphries.com/collections/...
Maria Sibylla Merian
In 1679, the commentator Joachim von Sandrart described Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) as a painter who had perfected the art of the miniature and of flower painting, a high and deserved honour. Pos...
www.lundhumphries.com
January 13, 2025 at 11:08 AM
William Kentridge
History on one Leg
A4 Arts Foundation
District Six, Cape Town
South-Africa
www.a4arts.org

#a4artsfoundation #williamkentridge
#capetown
December 27, 2024 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
“Loneliness and isolation can lead to: 29% increased risk of heart disease; 32% increased risk of stroke; 50% increased risk of developing dementia among older adults; and 60% increased risk of premature death.”

Surgeon General recommends designing cities to create more connections. #WalkableCities
Walkable Neighborhoods Help Adults Socialize, Increase Community
Adults who live in walkable neighborhoods are more likely to socialize and have a stronger sense of community, report researchers at the UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human...
today.ucsd.edu
December 22, 2024 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
The documentary “On the Adamant” explores how art allows psychiatric patients to translate confounding experiences into imagery.
Aboard a Floating French Clinic, Art Enables Healing
On the Adamant documents how art allows patients to translate confounding experiences into imagery — what one might call the poetry of the everyday.
hyperallergic.com
December 22, 2024 at 7:19 PM
Die Bloekomboomprojek hosted another drawing nd movement workshop in Vermaaklikheid, South-Africa. The theme explored was the four elements that included earth, water, air and fire.
December 19, 2024 at 5:01 AM
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
GRANT: Vital Impacts Unveils 2024-2025 Environmental Photography Grant and Mentorship Recipients: Honoring Icons of Conservation https://buff.ly/3VsTFQl #photojournalism #journalism #photography
Vital Impacts Unveils 2024-2025 Environmental Photography Grant and Mentorship Recipients: Honoring Icons of Conservation
Celebrating Transformative Voices in Environmental Storytelling Vital Impacts proudly announces the recipients of our 2024-2025 Environmental Photography Grants and Mentorships, recognizing the…
buff.ly
December 6, 2024 at 4:15 PM
Catriona Towriss
Time as method
Association of Visual Arts Gallery
Cape Town
www.ava.co.za

#capetown #catrionatowriss
December 4, 2024 at 7:06 AM
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
KOYO KOUOH APPOINTED CURATOR OF THE BIENNALE ARTE 2026

www.labiennale.org/en/news/koyo...
Biennale Arte 2024 | Koyo Kouoh appointed Curator of the Biennale Arte 2026
Koyo Kouoh has been appointed with the specific task of curating the 61st International Art Exhibition to be held in 2026.
www.labiennale.org
December 3, 2024 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
Dode mensen herdenken we op kerkhoven of met monumenten. Maar hoe rouw je om alle verdwijnende planten, schimmels en dieren? Verdriet om wat we zelf vernielen. ‘Als je deze gevoelens wegduwt, geef je het signaal dat het er niet toe doet.’
Eco-verdriet, rouwen om verdwenen soorten, helpt om verdere uitsterving te voorkomen
Dode mensen herdenken we op kerkhoven of met monumenten. Maar hoe rouw je om alle verdwijnende planten, schimmels en dieren? Verdriet om wat we zelf vernielen. ‘Als je deze gevoelens wegduwt, geef je…
buff.ly
December 3, 2024 at 8:09 AM
The Bloekomboomprojek hosted a collaborative drawing and movement project for a group of children of Skoolkop in Vermaaklikheid. We worked with an insect theme and a magical drawing with butterflies, dragonflies and bees was created.

#diebloekomboomprojek #communityartsproject #artforall
December 3, 2024 at 7:23 AM
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
A Cow Called Buttercup | Culture File
What does attending to a field of cattle have in common with making art? Agrarian artist Sarah Browne on the entangled worlds of humans and domesticated animals.

www.rte.ie/radio/lyricf...
A Cow Called Buttercup | Culture File
What does attending to a field of cattle have in common with making art? Agrarian artist Sarah Browne on the entangled worlds of humans and domesticated animals.
www.rte.ie
December 1, 2024 at 10:41 AM
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
‘om te onthou, is te verbeel … ek ontbeel jou. (To remember, is to imagine … I remagine you).
RIP Breyten Breytenbach (1939-2024).

theconversation.com/breyten-brey...
Breyten Breytenbach: a masterful poet, jailed for his politics, who reimagined South Africa
The celebrated South African writer and poet Breyten Breytenbach has died at 85. He used his art to fight for justice for marginalised people throughout his life.
theconversation.com
November 27, 2024 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
“Few modern artists do so much to persuade us that creative endeavor is a struggle.” Anthony Lane remembers Frank Auerbach, the British artist who died on November 11th, at the age of 93.
Frank Auerbach’s Raw Truths
“I find it all very difficult,” the late German-born British artist said, and few painters have done as much to show the struggle of creative endeavor.
www.newyorker.com
November 21, 2024 at 6:45 PM
Folding Kodak Camera
Charcoal and mixed media on archival paper.
The drawing is currently exhibited at Knysna Fine Art as part of their curated exhibition with the title INNER SIGHT.

#henkserfontein #knysnafineart
November 27, 2024 at 10:32 AM
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
‘Art may be a pact with the devil’: the great Marlene Dumas on her darkly provocative art
‘Art may be a pact with the devil’: the great Marlene Dumas on her darkly provocative art
She pours or even tosses paint on to a canvas – to see where it takes her. The results range from myths to massacres, bound heads to Satan. In a rare interview, the great artist reveals what drives her
www.theguardian.com
September 23, 2024 at 6:31 AM
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
In the new streaming series “Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot,” William Kentridge argues gently with a double of himself, diving into art, aging, myth, and family memories.
William Kentridge Sees the Universe in a Pot of Coffee
The artist tells Hyperallergic about how the isolation of COVID-19 led to a streaming series set wholly within the bounds of his studio.
hyperallergic.com
November 22, 2024 at 3:43 PM
Reisende

ek het myself sien reis
afgebeeld in die treinvenster
deur 'n herfslandskap van diep aarde
en swaar hemel-
hoe honger ek na binne en buite kyk

en ek het gewuif
voor dit te laat is
vir hom om my raak te sien

-Breyten Breytenbach
Uit: vyf-en-veertig skemeraandsange
November 26, 2024 at 5:13 AM
November 26, 2024 at 5:06 AM
Reposted by Henk Serfontein
If you, like me, first heard of Breyten Breytenbach in the song I’ve Never Met A Nice South African, this is a really interesting narrative of his family dynamic.
Breyten Breytenbach has died—this is an interesting piece by Max du Preez from June, about the three Breytenbach brothers: one a general in apartheid South Africa’s army, another a poet and committed opponent of apartheid, and the third a photographer of the violence wrought by that state:
Gifted band of Breytenbach brothers
Remembering Jan Breytenbach and his brothers Breyten and Cloete.
www.vryeweekblad.com
November 24, 2024 at 9:21 PM
RIP Afrikaans poet and anti-apartheid activist Breyten Breytenbach (1939-2024)

26 November 1975

Mag die bome groen bly
en die sterre wit,
en mag daar altyd mense wees
wat mekaar sonder skaamte
in die oë kan kyk-
want die lewe is 'n asem lank

#breytenbreytenbach
November 25, 2024 at 4:51 AM