Handle With Care

May 08, 2021 - February 28, 2022




Handle With Care borrows its title from a mixed media work by Johannesburg-based artist Kagiso Pat Mautloa, which he created in 1994. This title allows us to centre one of the most important values of the Javett-UP - Care. In this way the exhibition firmly situates the idea of an art centre as a public space of care as well as it’s role in taking care of art collections that were previously semi-private by facilitating their remediation into a repository of knowledge to which people from different backgrounds could claim a belonging.


In a world that is collectively experiencing the uneven effects of Covid-19, the administration of Care has become even more crucial. In prioritising Care, we appeal for a just society. Handle with Care features work from some of the well-respected artists from South Africa and beyond, including Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi, Penny Siopis, David Koloane, Gerard Sekoto, Robin Rhode, Jo Ractliffe, Santu Mofokeng, Adrian Piper and Antonio Ole, among many others.


The exhibition is arranged into four themes mediated through entry points created by four younger artists:

- Rituals of Self-Preservation is mediated by Neo ‘Hlasko’ Mahlasela

- Dreamscapes is mediated by George Mahashe

- Construction of South African Masculinities is mediated by Sabelo Mlangeni

- Abstraction is mediated by Nyakallo Maleke


Entrance Fee: Standard fee 

Contact us for bookings: bookings@javettup.art


Artwork: Kagiso Pat Mautloa, Handle With Care, mixed media, 1994.