Although no two#CreativeHustles centre around the same theme, a successful audience turnout remains constant.

The recent Creative Hustle, presented by Live Mag SA in partnership with the British Council / Connect ZA and The Rise and Fall of Apartheid exhibition was held at Museum Africa in Newtown, Johannesburg. We had five speakers present to educate us all about curation. Jacob Lebeko (Assistant Curator at UNISA Art Gallery), Zola Mtshiza (Acting Chief Curator at Museum Africa), Lois Anguria (Assistant Project Facilitator at British Council/Connect ZA), Nomazulu Taukobong (Gallerist at EST 1912) and Melissa Goba (Education Program Director for the Rise and Fall of Apartheid exhibition) covered everything from what curation is, the logisitics involved in putting together an exhibition as large as ‘The Rise and Fall of Apartheid’ as well as the experience of being part of the Glasgow International Festival.

Curation could not escape the media’s move to the digital space. So when the question of curation in the digital space was raised, it was Lois Anguria to the rescue! She illustrated her point with practical examples on digital curation today, most commonly seen on Instagram. Accounts such as @xhoofer , @10and5, @cprintjournal, @aaronpkohn and @nelsonmakamo were listed as some of the best examples.

The presentations were followed by a walk through the Rise and Fall of Apartheid installation with a ton of amazing imagery – some of which have never been seen by the general public (until now). The exhibition is not only limited to photographs. There are rare first issue books, old copies of Drum Magazine, an illustrated film by William Kentridge as well as television screens with short historical documentaries and slide shows. The photos themselves are presented in variety of ways and the entire installation and the various methods of presentation make it an experience you would not regret having. Yes, the photographs could make you emotional and somewhat nostalgic but missing out would be worse than anything the exhibition could make you feel.

After the walk-through, everyone filed back into the auditorium for a Q&A session on curation, just to clarify on points that they feel had not been raised during the presentation. Audience members digressed a little and asked loads of questions about apartheid but when we got back on track, there were a lot of brilliant and relevant questions posed by the audience.

Personally, my curiosity about curation has been piqued. Here’s hoping that yours, grows too. There is a lot more to a career in art than what the mainstream shows you. Some of our panellists just happened upon curation. The more you go out there and explore, the more you are exposed to and our creative hustles let you do just that.

Has FOMO hit you yet? Well hit back by signing up for our next #CreativeHustles; the Visual Riot Exhibition Masterclass by clicking here. Join the conversation on Twitter #creativehustles

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Photography by Nqobile Mkhonza, Ric3hard and Rofhiwa Maneta

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