WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., March 1, 2007- Williams College will host "Contemporary Art in the New South Africa," a lecture on the racial and sexual inequalities of apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, as represented in Bongiwe Dhlomo-Mantloa's visual art. The lecture will be held on Monday, March 5, at 7 p.m. in Lawrence Hall, room 231. It is free and open to the public.

As a South African printmaker, art administrator and opponent of apartheid, Dhlomo grounds her art on the socialist-realist and political. Her linocuts and woodcuts explore a wide range of issues ranging from political events such as the 1976 Soweto uprising, to mere portrayals of the daily life of working South African women.

However, Dhlomo does not limit the objectives of her artwork to presenting narrative scenes to the public. Her aim is to give voice to black women's rural and urban histories, as well as to present South African life as seen by them.

Appreciation for Bongiwe Dhlomo's exhibitions has not been limited to South Africa. Her work was also displayed in West Germany and Sweden, and she is particularly famous for her solo exhibition entitled "Images of South Africa", in Gaborone, Botswana. Her most recent exhibition, "No.4: Doors, Grafitti, Walls and All", was inspired by the solitary confinement cells in the former Johannesburg central prison complex.

After graduating from secretarial school, Dhlomo studied printmaking at the Art and Craft Center at Rorke's Drift, where she was awarded a Fine Arts Diploma. Between 1980-1983, the South African artist worked at the African Art Center in Durban, and then relocated to Johannesburg to work as a curator for the FUBA gallery.

She continued holding administrative positions as a coordinator and director for the African Institute for Contemporary Art, as well as a project coordinator of the Metro Mall in Johannesburg. Dhlomo is also the founder of the Zakhe Arts Project and the Alexandra Multi-Arts Factory, and the administrator of the first and second Johannesburg Biennales.

She is the recipient of the first prize for Graphic Art at the UZ African Arts Festival in 1985, as well as the award for Visual Arts offered by the Woza Afrika Foundation in New York.

"Contemporary Art in South Africa" is sponsored by Africana Studies, the Art department, Women's and Gender Studies and the Multicultural Center at Williams College.

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Event: Cristina Florea