Designs from the Indian Ocean World
This exhibition celebrates the influence of the Indian Ocean World on our visual culture. The Indian Ocean forms part of a world of exploration and trade that has characterised the area and its peripheries for over five thousand years. As such it formed an axis of multi-cultural contact for people of the Old World of antiquity connecting the Mediterranean, the Arabian Peninsula, Persia and the East African Coast with India, China and Southeast Asia. In this way explorers, travellers, sailors and merchants on a quest for fortune or new knowledge, established commercial, religious and intellectual networks amongst themselves and with the coastal communities. This occurred long before such networks were formed amongst the inhabitants of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Southern Africa situated just south of the monsoon winds and South Eastern Zimbabwe, halfway between Europe and Asia, was well placed to participate in early global networks. Archaeological evidence links the empires of the Limpopo Valley in the North-eastern region of South Africa with Arab traders active in the region over a thousand years ago.
The Old and New Worlds were connected through voyages of discovery that began in the late 1500’s. With the formation of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1602, regular trading voyages to India and Batavia commenced around the Cape of Good Hope. In 1652 the foundation was laid for the emergence of a vibrant - and brutal - new cosmopolitan society that would impact hugely on the southern tip of Africa – Cape Town.
More than just commodities to be traded, the works you see here - all selected for their special connection with the Indian Ocean World – were sources of cultural knowledge and identity as well as inspiration for creativity and ingenuity. Together with African and European roots this rich mix has contributed to the creation of an exciting and fresh post-colonial visual culture in South Africa, globally sought-after for its unique style.
Most of the works displayed here are drawn from the Iziko Permanent Collections. We are also indebted to the Parliament of South Africa and The Department of Public Works ( Groote Schuur) for giving us this opportunity to showcase these rare and little-known works from their collections in celebration of Cape Town being honoured as World Design Capital of 2014 .
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