Keeping Time to a Living Archive

Souls Interlude is an ode to South African jazz – a sensory exhibition curated by creative director and researcher Lukhanyo Mdingi.

WORDS Gina Dionisio PHOTOS Ian Bruce Huntley from Keeping Time, Courtesy of Chris Albertyn

Focusing on the preservation and history of jazz in South Africa during the 1960s and 1970s, Souls Interlude explores the lineage of this poignant art form and the Black Consciousness movement that coexisted within the melodies of each composition.

The exhibition serves as a portal that engages with archival imagery, percussion, sound, and historical relics indicative of this period. To begin weaving together the varying threads of this research respite, the premise of this new body of work stems from Ian Bruce Huntley’s archival photographic journals from the early 1960s, collected in Keeping Time, which opens a revealing window onto the complexities of the political climate and the beauty of camaraderie and community among local jazz artists in apartheid-era South Africa.

Souls Interlude serves as a collaborative, experiential time capsule of the archive. A considered selection of literary offerings, curated by Cape Town’s literary institution, Clarke’s Bookshop, expands upon the history and legacy of South African jazz. THEFOURTH, archival auctioneers, lend their unique collectable interior pieces as an accompaniment to the themed installations – each contributor demonstrates their ingenuity in celebrating the transformation of sound, visuals, and the soulful spirit of jazz.

Souls Interlude runs from 4-9 December at 107 Castle Street, Cape Town.

• Opening Night: 4th December – 5PM – 8.30PM
• 5th December – 10AM – 4PM
• 7th December – 11AM – 2PM
• 8th December – 10AM – 4PM
• Closing Day: 9th December – 10AM – 4PM

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