To
Protect
These
Fragile
Things
Group
Presentation

Cape
Town
24 Apr - 12 Jun 2025
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Goodman Gallery presents a group exhibition To Protect These Fragile Things. This show brings together a powerful selection of works by influential 20th-century and early 21st-century African artists, alongside a new generation making their mark on the global stage. Through this intergenerational dialogue, the exhibition explores how art acts as a protective force in a fragmented world.

The show is inspired by writer Zadie Smith’s assertion in Feel Free that "The writer’s job is to protect these fragile things," underscoring the importance of preserving the complexity of human experience.
To Protect Those Fragile Things - A Group Exhibition at Goodman Gallery Cape Town

ARTWORKS

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Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum
She is heavy, 2008
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Lindokuhle Sobekwa
Luvo in the garden I, 2021
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Sue Williamson
A Few South Africans: Nokukanya Luthuli, 1983
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Ezrom Legae
Untitled XV (23), 1994
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Ezrom Legae
Untitled V (10), 1994
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Ezrom Legae
Gossip (21), 1996
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Winston Saoli
Untitled (Reading Paper On Blue), c. 1971
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Winston Saoli
Untitled (Mother And Child On Blue), 1971
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Laura Lima
Charía, 2023
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Leonardo Drew
Number 349, 2022
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Walter Oltmann
Ferox, 2023
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Lindokuhle Sobekwa
Luvo in the garden II, 2021
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Clive van den Berg
African Landscape XX (Dust), 2023
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David Koloane
Under The Bridge I, 2008
To Protect Those Fragile Things - A Group Exhibition at Goodman Gallery Cape Town

The show is inspired by writer Zadie Smith’s assertion in Feel Free that "The writer’s job is to protect these fragile things," underscoring the importance of preserving the complexity of human experience. This aligns with writer and scholar Sara Ahmed’s notion of care as a radical act of repair and resistance, where creative acts offer protection, resist dehumanising forces, and create connections in a world that seeks to simplify complex human experiences. This exhibition extends Smith and Ahmed’s ideas of protection to image-making, where art becomes a force that resists emotional fragmentation and oversimplification.

To Protect Those Fragile Things - A Group Exhibition at Goodman Gallery Cape Town

FEATURED ARTISTS

Laura Lima
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum
Lindokuhle Sobekwa
Leonardo Drew
ezrom-legae
Ezrom Legae
Remy Jungerman
winston-saoli
Winston Saoli
Sue Williamson
Walter Oltmann
William Kentridge
Clive van den Berg
David Koloane

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