A SELECTION of icons of South Africa's cultural landscape, living and dead, will be the subject of a new exhibition that opens next week in Johannesburg.
Titled Legends of culture, the exhibits will be on view at Main Street Life on the corner of Main, Maritzburg and Fox streets in central Johannesburg on November 13.
Among those who will be honoured are Es' kia Mphahlele, Keorapetse Kgositsile, Ephraim Ngatane, Zim Ngqawana, Letta Mbuli, Busi Mhlongo, Abdullah Ibrahim, Miriam Makeba, Alfred Khumalo, Lilian Ngoyi, William Kentridge and Thabo Mbeki.
"It should come as no surprise that these authors, poets, musicians, politicians and visual artists, who form the content of this exhibition, found their way into this list," the exhibition curator, simply known as Prophet, said.
"They have all taught us that without a clear knowledge of self, identity and culture we remain powerless and irrelevant, unable to shift matter and create ourselves a legacy which will be carved in future's memory.
"Legends Of Culture pays tribute not only to the legacies of the icons on the list but to the power and importance of culture in its diversity."
Prophet said that the late Makeba did not simply give up after being accused of causing unrest and inspiring a political revolution.
"Had it not been for Busi Mhlongo's adventurous spirit and strength of character traditional maskandi music would probably never have earned global recognition," he said.