Zeitz MOCAA traces the intertwined histories of art, justice, and struggle in Southern Africa through the life and legacy of freedom fighter and former judge Albie Sachs.
Albie Sachs in front of the Dulcie September mural at Dulcie September Hall in Athlone. Photo: Carolyn Parton
At Zeitz MOCAA this season, art and activism converge in ‘Spring Is Rebellious: The Art & Life of Albie Sachs’, a significant exhibition that honours one of South Africa’s most influential thinkers, freedom fighters, and cultural advocates. Curated by Dr Phokeng Setai, the exhibition is both a tribute and a provocation—an invitation to reflect on how art has carried memory, resistance, and hope across decades of struggle in Southern Africa.
Opening on July 24, 2025, and running through August 23, 2026, the exhibition takes a biographical and political approach, tracing the arc of Albie Sachs’s extraordinary life and situating it within the shared cultural histories of Mozambique and South Africa. Through a rich selection of artworks, archival materials, and personal collections, ‘Spring Is Rebellious’ unfolds as a timeline of revolutionary consciousness—and an urgent reminder that liberation is always a work in progress.
Sachs is perhaps best known as a legal scholar and one of the architects of South Africa’s post-apartheid Constitution, appointed by Nelson Mandela to the newly established Constitutional Court in 1994. But long before that, he was a young advocate defending those charged under apartheid laws, an exile forced to flee in 1966, and a survivor of a 1988 car bomb attack in Mozambique that took his right arm and left him blind in one eye.
What may be less known is Sachs’ deep relationship to art and his belief in its power to move people toward justice. From his early years teaching law in Mozambique to his work on the Constitutional Court’s pioneering art collection, Sachs has long understood that creativity is not decorative but deeply political. In his words:
“For those of us who lived through the freedom struggles in Southern Africa, art was never a luxury. It was part of our survival… A mural, a poem, a song, a sculpture, a dance—they carried our defiance, our memory, our dreams.”
‘Spring Is Rebellious’ gives form to that vision. Drawing on three significant collections—the UWC-Robben Island Mayibuye Archives, the Constitutional Court Art Collection, and Sachs’ archive—the exhibition includes rarely seen works from both Mozambique and South Africa. These are artworks Sachs collected, commissioned, curated, or was otherwise deeply connected to. Alongside these are extensive interpretive materials, including Sachs’ own words and audio narration, which frame the art through his distinctive lens of memory, struggle, and transformation.
A chronological timeline runs throughout the show, linking Sachs’ personal and political journey to the broader historical currents that shaped Southern Africa over the last 70 years. From the liberation movements of the 1960s and 70s to the democratic transition of the 1990s, and the ongoing work of building a more just society today, the exhibition affirms that freedom is not a fixed destination but a continuous process.
The title itself, ‘Spring Is Rebellious’, evokes this spirit of unfinished revolution. As the exhibition makes clear, spring does not arrive quietly. It must be claimed—and reclaimed—through courage, care, and imagination. In this way, Sachs’ story becomes not just a personal biography but a symbol of collective resistance and creativity.
Curator Dr Phokeng Setai explains: “Our purpose is clear: to illustrate how art and culture are integral to law and justice, politics, and nation-building. We hope you come away with a deeper understanding that the realms of art and intellectual expression are not peripheral but central to building free and just societies.”
Setai’s curatorial approach highlights not only Sachs’ legal legacy but his role as a cultural thinker who championed art as a democratic right and public good. In bringing together archives, artworks, and public memory, ‘Spring Is Rebellious’ reflects Zeitz MOCAA’s broader mission: to produce and present groundbreaking exhibitions rooted in Africa’s diverse artistic traditions and political histories.
This exhibition also marks the recent launch of The Albie Collection, a new initiative created to celebrate Sachs’ 90th birthday and preserve his cultural legacy for future generations. In doing so, it continues his lifelong commitment to the power of storytelling and the responsibility of bearing witness.
As Sachs himself reflects: “Art gave spirit to our Constitution—the jazz musicians wrote the Constitution in music before the lawyers did in words… Art helped us see freedom before it arrived. It still does. The struggle isn’t over—and neither is the dreaming.”
Through the prism of one life—lived boldly, vulnerably, and creatively—‘Spring Is Rebellious’ tells a larger story about the role of art in imagining and enacting justice. It is a story still being written.
The exhibition will be on view from July 24, 2025, to August 23, 2026. For more information, please visit Zeitz MOCAA.
