Koulla Xinisteris, curator of ‘Still We Rise’, reflects on remembrance, resistance, and the enduring power of art in this collaborative exhibition bringing together works from the Ifa Lethu Foundation and the SABC Art Collection, Johannesburg
Installation view of ‘Still We Rise’. Photo: Nocwaka Sinxadi, Kwanda Photography
Now on view at The Atrium, Keyes Art Mile, Johannesburg, ‘Still We Rise’ unites the Ifa Lethu Foundation and the SABC Art Collection in a landmark exhibition that revisits South Africa’s struggle-era art. Curated by independent curator Koulla Xinisteris, who was invited to lead this collaboration, the exhibition traces how artists transformed adversity into creative defiance, crafting works that continue to speak to social justice, empathy, and endurance.
Coinciding with the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, ‘Still We Rise’ transforms remembrance into a living dialogue, bridging local histories with global questions of equity and belonging. Xinisteris reflects on the curatorial process, the act of return, and the shared responsibility of collections to keep memory visible and alive.
ART AFRICA: Why did you feel it was essential to bring these artworks out now?
Koulla Xinisteris: I was approached by fellow curator Carol Brown, initially to loan works for an exhibition to be staged by the Ifa Lethu Foundation to coincide with the G20 Summit being hosted here in Johannesburg. It developed into a collaborative exhibition featuring works from both the SABC and Ifa Lethu Collections, curated by me. But it’s worthwhile saying here that this is not the only moment in which we’ve exhibited the artworks in the SABC Art Collection. It’s part of our mission as a public collection to share the works and deepen people’s connection to them, so we’ve hosted numerous exhibitions curated around different themes prompted by different moments and events. For example, I also curated an exhibition for COP17, the United Nations Climate Change Conference held at the Durban International Convention Centre in 2011. And there have been numerous exhibitions before and since then. ‘Still We Rise’ focuses on artworks made during the struggle era. The context they speak to — social inequality, displacement, resource extraction at any cost — is ever-present. The works in this exhibition were forged in struggle, and they continue to help us understand the trauma and endurance of our society today. To leave them in storage would be to silence their relevance when they’re needed most.
Koulla Xinisteris at the opening of ‘Still We Rise’. Photo: Nocwaka Sinxadi, Kwanda Photography
You’ve spoken about the risk of forgetting. What does that mean to you as a curator?
For me, forgetting isn’t just about physical neglect; it’s about emotional and cultural neglect as well. When works stay unseen for too long, the collective memory they hold begins to fade. Bringing them out, showing them, allows us to reconnect, feel, question, and learn again. That’s part of healing.
How does this exhibition connect to the SABC’s role as a public institution?
The SABC Art Collection belongs to the people. Our responsibility is to ensure that it is not hidden away, but shared, studied, and celebrated. Exhibitions like ‘Still We Rise’ allow us to return the collection to the public space, to fulfil our mandate of accessibility, education and cultural reflection.
What do you hope audiences take away from this exhibition?
I hope people leave with a renewed sense of empathy and with the understanding that art is not something separate from life. These works invite us to see ourselves, our history, and our present struggles more clearly. If they stir reflection or compassion, even quietly, then they’ve done their work.
H.E Tegan Brink, Australian High Commissioner at the opening of ‘Still We Rise’. Photo: Nocwaka Sinxadi, Kwanda Photography
This exhibition brings together two significant collections, Ifa Lethu and the SABC Art Collection. What was your approach to weaving these two archives together? Were there any surprising dialogues or tensions that emerged between them?
Although the SABC Collection also holds many post-Apartheid artworks, the works on this exhibition were made inside the country during the struggle years, often under the pressure of censorship, violent repression, racialised economic exploitation and extreme social division. The works in the Ifa Lethu Collection were created during Apartheid, left in the country with the diplomats who bought them, and later repatriated. Ifa Lethu’s collection carries the exiled works, the art that had to go to survive. The process was like aligning two parallel histories —two branches of the same story. When placed together, they speak, sometimes gently, sometimes in tension, about exile, belonging, and the complicated act of return. The dialogue between them is profoundly human and embodied.
How does the act of returning these artworks to South African soil influence the exhibition’s emotional or political resonance today?
Their return is both emotional and political. These are not just artworks; they are homecomings. Bringing them back allows the artists’ voices to reconnect with the soil that shaped them, and with audiences who may never have known their journeys. Showing them here restores those voices to their context. It also asks us to consider what exile means today, who remains unseen, unheard, or displaced, and how art can bridge that distance. For me, this exhibition is about return, not a nostalgic one, but a necessary one.
Installation view of ‘Still We Rise’. Photo: Nocwaka Sinxadi, Kwanda Photography
You’ve spoken of art as a space for empathy and resistance. In the context of today’s global crises, from inequality to environmental collapse, how do these historic works challenge viewers to think about what ‘rising’ looks like in our current moment?
The SABC Art Collection and the Ifa Lethu Foundation collections each carry powerful legacies. Brought together, they form a collective ‘we’, voices across generations and circumstances that speak of endurance, bodily persistence, fierce imagination, and the will to rise despite everything. These works remind us that we rise together, not by forgetting each other’s agony, but by acknowledging it and facing pain head-on. They return to us as witnesses, asking us to look again at what we have inherited, what we have ignored, and what we must continue to face. They remind us that history is not finished. ‘Still We Rise’ is not only about the past, it’s about what remains urgent in our present. These artworks are not silent; they still speak. Art, at its core, is empathy in motion. The act of creation is, itself, an act of defiance.
The SABC Collection’s post-1994 curatorial strategy sought to correct historical exclusions. How does ‘Still We Rise’ extend this work of redress?
Post-1994, the focus was on inclusion, on actively acquiring works by Black artists who had been systematically excluded during the Apartheid years and on telling a broader, more truthful story of who we are. ‘Still We Rise’ continues this by giving visibility to artists and voices that shaped our visual culture, some of whom were never fully seen. It’s part of an ongoing act of redress, a reminder that recognition must be continual, not commemorative.
Installation view of ‘Still We Rise’. Photo: Nocwaka Sinxadi, Kwanda Photography
Are there particular artists or themes that embody this ongoing process of recognition and re-centring?
Several artworks depict the agonies the body endures under conditions of extractive labour. This is centred and foregrounded during the G20 Summit for a reason.
The title ‘Still We Rise’ draws from Maya Angelou’s poem. How does this collective ‘we’ manifest in your curatorial approach?
The ‘we’ is central. It’s the thread through everything. It’s not a curatorial statement of authority, but of belonging. The ‘we’ is the community of artists, viewers, and institutions who continue the dialogue across time. These works, from different generations and lived realities, rise together in conversation. They mirror our shared endurance and remind us that creativity is often our most honest form of resistance.
Curating collections and exhibitions is not a solo exercise; it brings people together in a collective effort, and at this point, I’d like to acknowledge my team who have been on the journey with me, writer and editor Alexandra Dodd in particular, whose values are very much in synch with the work we’re doing and the voices of the artists in the SABC Art Collection.
Installation view of ‘Still We Rise’. Photo: Nocwaka Sinxadi, Kwanda Photography
As Ifa Lethu marks 20 years, and with South Africa hosting the G20, how do you see this exhibition shaping international perceptions of South African art?
I hope it demonstrates that South African art is not only a story of trauma, but one of triumph, imagination, and endurance. These works show that creativity persisted, even in darkness, and that it continues to inform who we are globally. At a time when the world’s economic leaders gather here to talk about economic growth and cooperation, this exhibition reminds us that art, too, is a form of diplomacy, direct from the people, and that ‘growth’ can take its toll on human lives.
‘Still We Rise’ runs until 23 November 2025 at The Atrium, Keyes Art Mile, Johannesburg.
