2023 Baker’s Bay Artists’ Retreat Exhibition, Windhoek

StArt Art Gallery and OMDis are pleased to announce that the exhibition for the 2023 Baker’s Bay Artists’ Retreat is now open to the public. The exhibition is hosted at the Namibian Arts Association (NAA) and will close on the 29th of February 2024. While there will be no opening
event this year the NAA will host an end of year party on the 15th of December, which will be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and view the exhibition outside normal operating hours. To close the exhibition a catalogue launch will be held in February.

The Artists’ Retreat is part of the Art Can Transform project initiated by OMDis Town Transform Agency in Oranjemund, with proud sponsorship and support from Namdeb Diamond Corporation. This is the third iteration of the project. The first retreat saw 6 artists living and working at the deserted mining town of Bogenfels in the Tsau //Khaeb National Park in 2021 and in 2022 the next retreat was held with 13 artists at Baker’s Bay also in the Tsau //Khaeb National Park.

Ismael Shivute working on sculptures

Artworks on display in this exhibition are by artists from Namibia; Wil-Merie Greyling (Swakopmund), Immanuel Chiete (Oranjemund), Julia Nakashwa Hango (Swakopmund), Elisia Nghidishange (Omaruru), Ismael Shivute (Windhoek), Natache Sylvia Iilonga (Windhoek), Tity Kalala Tshilumba (Windhoek), Nicky Marais (Oranjemund), Lila Swanepoel (Windhoek) and from further afield; Anita Sambanje (Angola), Jeannette Unite (South Africa) and Line Krom (Germany).

Group photo of artists exploring Oranjemund and the surrounds ahead of the retreat

From 9 – 21 September 2023, twelve artists attended an Artists’ Retreat at Baker’s Bay in the Tsau //Khaeb (Sperrgebiet) National Park. This retreat is the third of its kind. As part of OMDis’ Art Can Transform project, an Artists’ Retreat was held at Bogenfels in 2021 and at Baker’s Bay in 2022. This important, annual event brings artists into an area of Namibia that is largely still inaccessible and provides an opportunity for them to live and work together, focussing on the unique history and environment of the National Park.

The Tsau //Khaeb (Sperrgebiet) National Park has incredible geographical, biological, social and historical significance. For this iteration of the retreat artists were asked to focus their thinking and making around the idea of ‘Creative Rehabilitation’. This theme lays the groundwork for artists to think about the ways in which their work might help to rehabilitate the former mining area and imagine alternative uses for existing infrastructure. Rehabilitation is an important part of post-mining land use and artists were encouraged to explore the potential
role that creativity and art can play in when mining eventually stops in the area.

Wil-Merie Greyling in studio

As a result this exhibition includes a wide variety of artworks in traditional and new mediums. Sculptural works on display use recycled metals from a nearby dump. Paintings respond to the landscape in various ways, drawing from topographic imagery and in some cases using
pigments from the earth. Photography and collage incorporate archival images and document installation and site specific work that will remain at Bakers Bay itself for years to come. Also on display are imaginative architectural plans that seek to explore new modalities of inhabiting the landscape.

Julia Hango in Studio

The remote environment of Baker’s Bay provided artists with a chance to pursue their creative practice in an uninterrupted, dedicated manner. They used this opportunity to learn from each other and be inspired by the incredibly unique environment and its social history.