.jpg)
.jpg)
In addition to a stellar lineup of galleries and artists from Africa and the diaspora, a programme of special projects sets this fair apart:
The INDEX Independent Artists group exhibition provides a platform to promote work from independent artists and curators alike. This year's exhibition Invisible Thread is curated by Bonolo Kavula. It's a space dedicated to experimentation and new voices, making it a refreshing offering at an art fair of this magnitude.
Other projects include works by ceramic artist and 2024 Anna Award, Xanthe Somers, and the Botswana exposé, which taps into the currents of the region's contemporary art scene with a cross-disciplinary and collaborative showcase. A lesser-known yet no less prolific South African sculptor Amalie von Maltitz is exhibited alongside sketches by contemporary art giant Sydney Kumalo for the fascinating special project, ESSAY.
Disturbed Currents: Art for a Warmer World is an impactful outdoor activation featuring local artist Nina Barnett and Dutch artist Thirza Schaap. Both artists focus on humanity's effect on our environment. Plus, a new section dedicated to local designer ware, in collaboration with Design Week South Africa, is your chance to shop functional and wearable art.
Keep reading for our highlights of RMB Latitudes 2025.
Indie artists and the Invisible Thread
fabric and thread. Photo: RMB Latitudes.
"Invisible Thread weaves together the work of eight independent artists in a collective exploration of identity, connection, and materiality. Through a range of media – from thread and textiles to sculpture and print – these artists engage in a shared dialogue that celebrates experimentation, vulnerability, and the intricate processes behind their work," reads the curatorial statement.
Kavula brings her experience within art fairs to several young artists who are showing their work in this context for the first time. Alongside her own work, the artists showing are Yonela Doda, Dineo Ponde, Unathi Mkonto, and Khanyi Mawhayi, textile artists Tinyiko Makwakwa and Tshepo Phokojoe, and printmaker Thato Makatu.
ANNA Award winner Xanthe Somers' ceramics solo
As the winner of the 2024 ANNA Awards by Latitudes Online and Southern Guild, Zimbabwe-born ceramicist Xanthe Somers has been in residency in South Africa working towards a solo presentation for RMB Latitudes 2025. Ceramics and works in clay were well-represented at last year's fair, making Somers' exhibit a welcome continuation of that theme. It's also her first time exhibiting in Johannesburg – something we're looking forward to as long-time fans of her work.
Through the medium of clay, Somers' practice endeavours to translate Zimbabwean basket-weaving techniques to reflect on what has traditionally been regarded as women's work. "Clay has long been used as a vessel for holding human stories, as an archive... I am especially interested in how storytelling over the years has withheld particular narratives, especially when it comes to women’s stories. I am interested in what has been silenced, erased, left out of those narratives which have been woven into tapestries and moulded into clay, probably by women but somehow erasing them simultaneously," says Somers.
Botswana exposé
While galleries from Lagos to Namibia, Cape Town, and Johannesburg are taking part in this year's fair, Botswana forms a special focus. The so-called Botswana exposé at RMB Latitudes explores the region's cultural and artistic practices; a deep dive into the country's art ecosystem and those driving it during a time in which there are exciting shifts.
Latitudes curator Boitumelo Makousu explains, "Curatorially, the Botswana focus will grapple with the historical and ideological narratives of borders – those internal to the region as well as the geographical markers that distinguish Botswana in relation to South Africa and the broader world."
This focus brings together artists, curators, cultural practitioners, and collectives, including the TBP Artist Collective, The Space Botswana, ReCurate, Banana Club, Art Residency Centre (ARC), and an online collaboration with Ora Loapi. Instead of separate exhibits, they will be presented as a holistic project that scopes the depths and nuances of Botswana's art landscape.
Disturbed Currents: Art for a Warmer World
Photo: RMB Latitudes.
Disturbed Currents: Art for a Warmer World features installations by Thirza Schaap and Nina Barnett. The artists interrogate humans' relationship and responses to, and effects on, our increasingly endangered environment.
Known for her Plastic Ocean series focusing on pollution in the sea through an expression of her "personal and ecological grief", Schaap's compositions of brightly coloured discarded plastic at first appear deceptively pretty. However, a closer look reveals the sharp contrast between the aesthetically appealing waste and the reality of our throwaway culture and its damaging effects. In this installation, Schaap invites the viewer to contemplate "consumption, grief, and what we choose to treasure".
Nina Barnett's site-specific project is in response to the location of Latitudes on Johannesburg's east-west running Witwatersrand Ridge. The ridge is an origin point for water flowing from its south side into the Atlantic and the north-facing side into the Indian Ocean. Her project interrogates how we understand water – as a "beautifier and cleanser, as well as a carrier of waste and toxicity". Through this she explores the "social and political carried within the flow" and the out-of-sight systems that sustain our city.
Sculptors in conversation: Amalie von Maltitz and Sydney Kumalo
It's an unlikely duo, making it all the more interesting – two prolific South African sculptors are brought into conversation for the 2025 edition of RMB Latitudes' special project, ESSAY. They are Sophiatown-born Sydney Kumalo, a prominent figure in contemporary South African sculpture, and Amalie von Maltitz, who, though abundant in her output, is better known for her teaching than as a maker in her own right.
Curated by Latitudes co-director Lucy MacGarry, the ESSAY exhibit Tracing Modernist Lineages places Kumalo's lesser-seen charcoal and pastel drawings alongside the clay sculptures of Von Maltitz.
"The relationship between these two artists might not be immediately apparent, but the resultant dialogue between their work is intriguing," writes David Mann for Latitudes. "Both artists [...] have left their mark on South African sculpture through their respective approaches to figuration, abstraction, and their consideration of the human form. And while their paths diverged and crossed, never quite meeting, their work shares a few key influences."
Get to know Von Maltitz in the video essay below.
Spotlight on local design
At RMB Latitudes, it's not only about interesting art. Distinguishing Latitudes from other art fairs is the eye for contemporary design and a recognition that the boundaries between art and object are not all that strict.
A collaboration with Design Week South Africa brings us the 2025 Design Showcase, spanning five rooms and featuring over 20 standout local brands. You'll be able to shop fashion, homeware, crafts, and accessories from the likes of textile brand Something Good Studio, jewellery label Pichulik, craft studio The Herd, Cape Town-based concept store Merchants on Long, and clothing label Duck Duck Goose. It's form meets function in all the best ways.
An art playground at Shepstone Gardens
No mention of RMB Latitudes would be complete without a nod to its enchanting location, Shepstone Gardens, in the historic Joburg suburb of Mountain View. This quirky venue becomes an all-out art playground for the weekend, with plenty of outdoor and indoor spaces to explore. The lavish, terraced gardens and intricate stone buildings of this multi-layered property infuse local heritage with nods to old-world Europe, and provide an enchanting backdrop for the art.
The wonderfully curated food and drinks offerings at RMB Latitudes are always the icing on the cake. We recommend you don't visit in a hurry: set aside plenty of time to discover the many art-filled spaces, wander the beautiful grounds, and soak up the surroundings.
Catch RMB Latitudes from Fri, May 23 – Sun, May 25, 2025. Book your tickets here. Follow @latitudes.online on Instagram for updates.
Comments