Tapestries weave aspects of SA life and a bank's history with wool into today's artistic landscape

Daily Maverick

22-06-2025

The Standard Bank Art Lab is showing that when it comes to art, the bank is not a sheep but a shepherd.
The merino sheep is possibly the most consequential animal to the South African banking sector. The Spanish breed was first donated by the Dutch in the late 1700s, and its value to the growing South African economy was felt by the 1860s.
The Cape Colony used the sheep's high-quality wool to distinguish and expand its economy. The booming industry would facilitate the establishment of one of the leading financial institutions in South Africa – the Standard Bank Group.
This is a peculiar fabric of the blue bank's history, but nevertheless a pivotal strand that it continues to weave into its identity. The latest iteration is the establishment of the Standard Bank Art Lab.
Situated at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton City, the Art Lab reimagines how audiences engage with art through encouraging interaction that is up close, in motion and in dialogue with the present.
The premise of the inaugural exhibition, Following the Blue Thread: It's Woven Into Who We Are, stitches those days of trade to today's artistic landscape.
'At Standard Bank, we believe that contemporary art is not peripheral to progress,' says Margaret Nienaber, Standard Bank's Group COO.
'Instead, it is central to how we see, shape and share our future. [Art provides] a space where legacy fuels innovation and where creativity is treated not only as a luxury, but also as a vital form of engagement.'
Standard Bank has never been sheepish in its affinity for the arts. From its decades-long collaboration with the National Arts Festival to the renowned Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year Awards, South African arts across many disciplines have become stitched to the brand of the bank.
The inaugural exhibition includes the work of past award winners in fine arts William Kentridge (1987) and Sam Nhlengethwa (1994), as well as household names such as Penny Siopis, Judish Mason and Mirriam Ndebele.
A meticulous process of selection was undertaken by curator Dr Same Mdluli. 'At the core of its curatorial premise the exhibition threads together the tapestries as centring collections as a source for artistic appreciation and inspiration, but more importantly, a rich resource for both academic and curatorial research,' said Mdluli.
Stitching together an exhibition
Allina Ndebele's tapestry titled Ancestors was the first acquisition for the bank's corporate art collection in 1976. A colourful and vibrant tapestry depicting what can be interpreted as episodic anecdotal visual representations of African spirituality, folklore or history, it's the woven equivalent of a captivating nganekwane (Zulu fantasy story).
Office Love (2001), Kentridge's contribution in collaboration with the Stephens Tapestry Studio, has a more modern and industrial outlook. With muted tones and dark silhouette imagery, the hand-woven mohair tapestry is an image of an everyman with a typewriter for a head, who is striding towards a workstation superimposed over what seems to be a map of Johannesburg.
'There is a worldview each of the tapestries present that resonates with a South African context in particular ways,' Mdluli said. 'This can be seen in how the work also presents symbolism employed by the artist in condensing a convoluted cultural myth and telling this through simplistic visual language.'
Siopis's Shame (2003) and Nhlengethwa's Late Night Jazz (1994) best exemplify Mdluli's assembly of artworks that speak to varying yet deeply interconnected sociopolitical themes with enduring South African contexts.
Late Night Jazz has eccentric visual undertones in its depiction of culture, fashion and perspective, evoking a sense of nostalgia that harks to the black diasporic influence on the youth of South Africa at the height of Sophiatown. It is both a warming and haunting reminder of how black people found joy amid the cruelty of apartheid.
Shame, on the other hand, is striking in its use of red to depict a feminine figure gushing what seems like blood. Siopis is interested in what she calls the poetics of vulnerability. Considering the never-ending aggression South African women endure, the piece is chilling.
When it comes to art, Standard Bank is not a sheep but a shepherd. The exhibition seamlessly connects different aspects of South African life. Its Art Lab is perfectly designed to be a space that values curiosity over convention, and community over exclusivity – a space where legacy meets possibility. DM