Reflections on reflecting screens

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Art Process, Books by Ruth Hartley, Creativity, Imagination, Power, Reading, Visual Arts, Writing ProcessLeave a Comment

The stories we write or tell about ourselves come from within us. Now in lockdown, we turn to a screen and a digital image to make contact with people. Videophones and Skype seemed normal – I looked at you looking at me. I was still inside myself and our gaze was shared. When I Zoom to the “Screen” to be […]

Cuba, art, installations, Zambia, Africa, and the 1989 Havana Biennial

Ruth HartleyCreativity, Imagination, Installations, Mpapa Gallery, Politics, Power, Printmaking, Racism, Slavery, Southern Africa, Visual Arts, War, ZambiaLeave a Comment

Che Guevara and that famous poster Old revolutionaries will remember the importance of Cuban screen prints as propaganda tools for the fight for freedom all around the world. In 1968, my communist friend, Bill, insisted that we visit the Cuban Embassy in London to see this particular brilliant and sophisticated form of art and agitprop. We all remember the poster […]

The Shaping of my Art

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Apartheid, Art Process, Creativity, m’Other Art, Mpapa Gallery, Poetry, Politics, Southern Africa, Visual Arts, Zambia3 Comments

The world hasn’t stopped turning in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, but most people’s lives have been upended. It’s been a time for self-reflection for me as well as a time of tidying up files and boxes of photos. Some photos record my changing appearance, but the more interesting ones are those that detail how my art has altered and […]

Women and art

Ruth HartleyEducation, Feminism, Race, Southern Africa, Visual Arts, ZambiaLeave a Comment

Women’s Art from the Lechwe Heritage Collection The Lechwe Trust in Lusaka, Zambia, has an exhibition of art created by women from this Sunday, 8th March, International Women’s Day. I’m honoured to be included in it and to share the space with so many other artists I know and admire. There are a total of 32 artists – many with […]

Connections between art, politics, and change in South Africa and Zambia

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Apartheid, Art Process, Colonialism, Creativity, Design, Education, Human rights, Identity, Imagination, Justice, Mpapa Gallery, Politics, Printmaking, Racism, South Africa, Southern Africa, Visual Arts, When I Was Bad, ZambiaLeave a Comment

Andrew Verster, the best teacher I had Andrew Verster died on Sunday 16th February 2020. In 1964, After graduating from Camberwell School of Art and Reading University, he taught me painting at the Michaelis School of Art, University of Cape Town. He was a wonderful teacher – one whom I will never forget because of his kindness and the attention […]