The Ifa Lethu Foundation, in partnership with the SABC, presents Still We Rise, an exhibition of artworks created during South Africa’s Apartheid years. Opening on 30 October and running until 23 November, the exhibition coincides with the G20 Summit, bringing South Africa’s cultural story to a global audience. With the world focused on Johannesburg this year, Still We Rise takes on added resonance, serving both as a commemoration of the past and a call to ethical leadership in the present.

Still We Rise showcases works produced between 1948 and 1994, alongside selected post-Apartheid pieces. Many were created in exile and later repatriated, their return a powerful reminder of cultural survival. The exhibition’s title plays on Maya Angelou’s 1978 poem Still I Rise – a manifesto of defiance and dignity that resonates deeply within the South African context. In this rephrasing, the emphasis on ‘we’ recognises the collective spirit of resistance, solidarity and shared survival that underpinned the struggle for liberation.

The Ifa Lethu Foundation Collection
Founded in 2005, the Ifa Lethu Foundation is South Africa’s largest heritage repatriation organisation. Its collection began with works gathered during Apartheid by Australian diplomats Diane Johnstone and the late Bruce Haigh, which were later returned to South Africa. Today, the Foundation holds more than 550 works from 16 countries, including paintings, sculptures, carvings, drawings, and prints. Beyond repatriation, Ifa Lethu supports youth empowerment, cultural entrepreneurship, and human rights education, having trained over 2,400 young South Africans and helped establish more than 800 small enterprises.

The SABC Art Collection
The SABC Art Collection is one of South Africa’s most significant public art holdings. While its early acquisitions largely reflected Apartheid-era exclusions, the post-1994 strategy has deliberately redressed these imbalances, foregrounding Black artists whose contributions were overlooked for decades. As custodian of this collection, the SABC affirms the role of art as a register of social life, embracing contradiction, emotion and representation across race, gender, history and medium. 

The SABC Art Collection is an ongoing and always unfinished project reflecting not only South Africa’s cultural diversity and social realities, but also providing a space for the display of the always emergent creativity and individuality of South Africa’s artists, both established and rising. 

In a global context of growing authoritarianism, systemic inequality, environmental devastation and renewed militarisation, Still We Rise is a reminder of the power of art to connect people, inspire courage and stir our conscience. These works are testaments to survival, showing how, even in harshest times, art affirms the fullness of life.

The participating artists will be announced closer to the opening.