Current Exhibitions

Exhibitions

The old community hall has been converted into the museum’s exhibition space and also houses its collections. The museum’s first exhibition was staged in1999 before the museum was officially opened and was the initiative of its first curator, Bongani Mgijima. Raising the Curtain referred to sheets that were hung by the migrant workers alongside their beds to secure some privacy. An exhibition entitled Memorising Migrancy opened in May 2000 to coincide with the official launch of the museum. It consisted of photographs from the UWC-Robben Island Museum Mayibuye Archive reflecting poverty in rural areas, and contemporary photographs of Lwandle. During the period 2002-2005 the museum had an exhibition entitled Unayo Na Imepu? (Do you have a map?). It traced how and why Lwandle was established in the 1960s by the apartheid government, the changes that took place in the 1990s when the hostels were turned into family houses and how the museum emerged.

Today elements of these exhibitions have been incorporated into the museum’s first permanent exhibition, Iimbali zeKhaya (Stories of Home). A photographic exhibition entitled the Transported of Kwandebele by the world renowned photographer David Goldblatt is on permanent display. Artist Gavin Younge’s installation Workman’s Compensation, consisting of wheelbarrows containing artifacts that were used by hostel residents, is one of the museum’s main attractions. At various times there are also temporary exhibitions in the museum. These include a series of artworks by Lwandle residents entitled Migrancy and Belonging, produced in collaboration with the Institute of Justice and Reconciliation.

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