For nearly 20 years The Keiskamma Trust Art Project has been working in the beautiful, rural village of Hamburg, located in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Due to the decades of racialized violence and inequality under the Apartheid regime, and the devastation caused by of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, pain, sadness and loss threaten to overwhelm the community and the work of the Trust.

McMullen Gallery and the Keiskamma Trust Art Project are partnering up for a new exhibit, known as Imbumba. Appropriately named after a bean seed, Imbumba represents the unending cycle of life, and the concepts of renewal and growth. Included are portraits of people who are the life-blood of the community. Other works depict aspects of growth and life in the village and that of the natural world which sustains and feeds them.

Imbumba is a profound and moving statement about the strength and commitment of a community that remains a connected and caring place in spite of the multiple challenges it faces, as well as the faith in their ability to survive and flourish.

Imbumba runs from March 2-April 21, 2019. Our opening reception is March 8, 7-9pm.