Putting the punch back into art

Johann van der Schijff of UCT's Michaelis School of Fine Art will run a new exhibition, Community Punching Bags, or CPBs, in the South African National Gallery Annexe, from 23 May to 16 June. CPBs is a project Van der Schijff ran in collaboration with art teachers and high school learners in and around Cape Town. The exhibition, he says, is inspired by artwork in which the community plays a central part in its realisation. It aims to show that issues that are often not spoken about publicly – such as violence, "the other", discrimination and racism – can be addressed in a a collaborative and creative way.