Paging through my diary today, I came upon the inscription about my art exhibition in Athens in September 2008, at the Official Athens Residence of the South African Ambassedor in Greece...and here I am sharing some of the lovely experiences I had.
Upon my arrival at the residence, which is a splendid building with a great architectural structure, set in a green, flourishing garden, I was welcomed by my now dear friend from Nigeria, Eze, who offered me some much appreciated help in getting the 30 paintings hanged in the exact places they were meant to! My paintings have vibrant African colours and themes, created from my wonderful childhood memories growing up in the Eastern and Northen Cape, and the incredibly beautiful garden was a fantastic backdrop for my artworks!
After that I did a sound check with beloved Hermine Smit, since we were invited to perform our African songs at the event too, and we had great fun when we sang our first song...Mangwane Mpulele...and everybody started swaying to the African beats!
The first event that took place during my exhibition was held for the Womens World Organisation. I met some incredible women representing their countries with grace and a beautiful presence, and it was lovely to hear them communicating in their numerous languages...a great inspiration to create unique new songs!
When we sang Qongqongthwane...the Click Song, in Xhosa, our gorgeous Ambassedor started dancing in her South African costume, and soon many other women followed. By the time Hermine sang the Pata-Pata, the whole residence was shaking on the South African rhythms...just like we do the pata-pata in Johannesburg!
The next event took place at night when we shared the stage with a stunning African group, Musica. My exhibition was outdoors again like the previous time. When it started raining unexpectedly during our performance, guests and musicians made a great effort to save the paintings from getting wet, running around between huge African percussion instruments, microphone stands and cables, with my drawings in the hand!
We managed to get them all safe...and scattered all over the residence patio!
That night...we danced until 3 in the morning...the African songs have an energy which keeps you on your toes all the time! Needless to say that Hermine and I boarded our plane back to the island just in time the next morning...carrying instruments, microphones, flowers AND our luggage (since we missed the whole weighing-in process) and then...we had sweet dreams high up in the sky!
Like every other event for the South African Embassy, this one was truly unforgettable and brought me in contact with a group of extraordinary human beings! It was also a great honor to exhibit my drawings at these beautiful events, and a great inspiration to continue my artistic work with zeal and joy!
