Exhibition Type: Outdoor Exhibition

Curator:
Heidi Erdmann

Artist(s): Mikhailia Petersen and Melany Ismail

Venue: Company Gardens, Cape Town 

Description:
Cape Rhythm: Goema, Klopse & Memory is a public photographic exhibition celebrating one of Cape Town’s most enduring cultural traditions. Presented in the Company’s Garden during Heritage Month, the exhibition explores Goema and the Kaapse Klopse as living expressions of memory, identity and resilience.

Featuring the work of two Cape Town photographers, Melany Ismail and Mikhailia Petersen, the exhibition presents contemporary perspectives on a tradition rooted in centuries of cultural exchange across the Indian Ocean. This exhibition is about memory carried through rhythm.

It is an exhibition about communities whose histories have often been excluded from official narratives, yet . to preserve identity through performance, dress, ritual and celebration. Goema is one of Cape Town’s most distinctive cultural expressions. Emerging through histories of enslavement, migration and creolisation, it continues to evolve across generations while remaining deeply connected to place and community.

By bringing these photographs into the Company’s Garden, the exhibition invites audiences to encounter this living heritage in one of the city’s most historic public spaces.

This project received funding from the Kingdom of the Netherlands.