The future of KZN’s creative economy starts with conversation. We spoke with Angela Shaw and Lungile Mkhize, Co-Founders and Fair Directors of the KZN Art Fair, about the vision shaping the inaugural fair.

There are already many thriving practitioners, collectives, a dynamic incubator gallery, and eager collectors. The KZN Art Fair is the organic result of abundant content and a clear demand for creative industry growth in KZN — Angela Shaw, co-founder

1. Your research has focused on sustainability in the creative sector. How has that thinking influenced the way you’ve envisioned the KZN Art Fair not just as an event, but as a long-term cultural platform?

For entities in the creative sector to be sustainable, they rely on a functional and active ecosystem. Working in the sector for 30 years, and a study of systems theory in my research, has informed this approach. KZN has always had an abundant supply of creative talent – artists and innovators who develop high-quality and original work – but has struggled to provide income opportunities for them. The visual art economy is made of a dynamic network of artists, galleries, non-profit project spaces, museums, auction houses, arts education institutions, arts enthusiasts and collectors. Art fairs are forums where all these players come together to ‘meet’, appreciate and trade. The vision for the KZN Art Fair is that it fills a critical gap in our ecosystem – a meeting place that facilitates learning, business, and the opportunity for players to develop long-term relationships with each other. Over time, the KZN Art Fair forum, and its stimulation of the creative economy, supports the emergence of new galleries, projects and collectives in the region – and, in turn, the careers of local artists.

2. Much of South Africa’s contemporary art conversation has historically centred on Johannesburg and Cape Town. What does it mean to create a platform that invites audiences to look towards KwaZulu-Natal?

It’s exciting to invite audiences to look towards KZN. Cape Town and Johannesburg provide well -established models of thriving arts ecosystems that many already know. Visitors to the KZN Art Fair can expect to discover new artists, and an original and professional presentation of work from the region and Southern Africa. We have unique practices and opportunities here that are unexplored  – and the exhibitors and talks programme offer meaningful insights into these.  

3. With decades of experience as a curator and exhibition-maker, how has your curatorial practice shaped the identity and vision of this inaugural edition of the KZN Art Fair?

I’ve long been a champion of the KZN art scene and interested in how we, as a community and region, better value and showcase what is here. The fair provides an opportunity to do this and it’s been gratifying to include so many high-caliber KZN exhibitors, either operating as galleries or as collectives representing career artists. The curation of exhibitors this year is a dynamic combination of established players and exciting new voices operating in the KZN Midlands, Durban and other parts of the province, as well as organisations and curators from around the country that bring a diverse range of experience and practices to the fair.

We’re excited to bring contemporary art to what is essentially an unexplored frontier of the art market on the east coast of South Africa, and by doing so be a vehicle from which this market is explored and maintained
— Lungelo Mkhize, co-founder

1. Art fairs often introduce new audiences to collecting. How important is it for the KZN Art Fair to cultivate the next generation of art collectors?

In direct reference to the KZN Art Fair, it is imperative for cultivating the next generation through accessibility by bringing what is out there closer to the next generation, together with the educational programme of the Fair, to teach them the various aspects of the art industry so that they can make informed decisions and, in turn, grow to be contributing members of the art community in our region and beyond. When the next generation of collectors contributes to the conversations and practices of the industry, there will be a broader pool of resources to draw from to maintain the industry beyond the existing, and somewhat dated, avenues of accessibility.

2. Your background spans gallery operations, art handling and exhibition logistics. How have those experiences informed the way you’ve designed the inaugural KZN Art Fair?

Tremendously. My initial exposure to the art scene was working in a gallery with the specific task of Art Fair logistics optimization and post-Art Fair client logistics services. This meant understanding the bigger picture of an Art Fair—from the build to the curatorship—all of which work together through the build-up, installation, and dismantling of an Art Fair. By keeping an eye on the bigger picture of Art Fairs, you end up seeing their roles and positions amongst other Fairs, as well as their economic importance to the art scenes of the regions they exist in. You therefore understand how and why a particular Art Fair is positioned and placed the way that it is. I drew a lot from that knowledge and my previous experience of attempting an Art Fair in the region before this when we put together the KZN Art Fair.

3. Art fairs are often described as marketplaces, but they’re also spaces where cultural narratives are shaped. What story do you believe the inaugural KZN Art Fair is telling about KwaZulu-Natal today?

It tells the overall story that we exist. That we are not bystanders in an industry where we have such a historical and credible contribution. We have more stories to tell that need to be seen and heard by the rest of the world, and we have the capacity, as a market, to receive stories that are being told by others, which we can consume and find homes for.