Still We Rise: Artworks from the Ifa Lethu Foundation and SABC Art Collections

Rooted in memory, resistance and resilience, Still We Rise showcases artworks created between 1948 and 1994, with a few works from the post-Apartheid period included for their piercing retrospective gaze. Together, these works highlight the courage and creativity of artists who persevered despite censorship, oppression and the violent realities of Apartheid. Many of the works on show were created in exile and later repatriated, making their return to South Africa a poignant reminder of cultural survival against the odds.

As Johannesburg hosts the G20 Summit this year, Still We Rise takes on an added resonance. The international spotlight is fixed on South Africa, and this exhibition is both a commemoration of the past and a call to ethical leadership in the present. The launch event on 30 October coincides with the W20 ministerial meeting, bringing women leaders from across the globe to Johannesburg.

The Ifa Lethu Foundation Collection
Founded in 2005 through a partnership between the Australian Government and South Africa’s Ministry of Arts and Culture, the Ifa Lethu Foundation is today the largest heritage repatriation organisation in the country. Its roots stretch back to two Australian diplomats, Diane Johnstone and the late Bruce Haigh, who in the 1970s and 80s acquired artworks from Black South African artists working under repression, opening their homes for exhibitions in defiance of Apartheid law.
Years later, Johnstone and Haigh donated their collections back to South Africa, forming the nucleus of what is now the Ifa Lethu Heritage Collection. Today, more than 550 works from 16 countries have been returned, encompassing paintings, drawings, sculptures, carvings and prints.
Over the past two decades, Ifa Lethu has extended its mission beyond repatriation to cultural entrepreneurship, human rights education and youth empowerment. More than 2,400 young South Africans have been trained in creative business, resulting in over 800 small enterprises established in rural and township communities. Its global footprint includes multiple exhibitions including: the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Africa Day in Australia in 2011, the London Olympics in 2012, the French Seasons in Paris and the Lord Mayors FTSE 100 Event in London in 2014, to name a few.

The Foundation begins its 20th anniversary celebrations this year, with programmes running through 2026. Plans include the launch of the Ifa Lethu Annual Lecture, a new Creative Digital Ecosystem, and partnerships spanning the United States, India, the Nordic region and Chile.

The SABC Art Collection

The SABC Art Collection is one of South Africa’s most significant public art holdings. While its early acquisitions largely reflected Apartheid-era exclusions, the post-1994 strategy has deliberately redressed these imbalances, foregrounding Black artists whose contributions were overlooked for decades.

As custodian of this collection, the SABC affirms the role of art as a register of social life – embracing contradiction, emotion and representation across race, gender, history and medium. The SABC Art Collection is an ongoing and always unfinished project reflecting not only South Africa’s cultural diversity and social realities, but also providing a space for the display of the always emergent creativity and individuality of South Africa’s artists – both established and rising.

“A lineage of feeling, thinking, making and resisting unfolds here, from the artists’ hearts to ours. Through their work, we know that the struggle continues. May we continue to rise against genocides, against discrimination, injustice, and poverty – may we continue to struggle against it all. May we never forget. May our eyes live to see, and may art continue to impart love and empathy to all our hearts,” says SABC Art Collection curator, Koulla Xinisteris.

A timely reminder at a pivotal moment