The Centre for Sociological Research and Practice (CSRP) at the University of Johannesburg and the Faculty of Art Design and Architecture (FADA) cohosted an interdisciplinary exhibition and open studio project that included a series of open dialogues with Ayanda Mabulu’s artwork whereby he unpacked the contested concept of decoloniality. The exhibition took place at the FADA auditorium on 16 June 2023 and included a range of civil society organisations, such as the Thembelihle Crisis Committee (TCC) and Sikhala Sonke from Marikana. Also present were students and staff from the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Free State, Witwatersrand University, and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) – the latter of whom co-hosted the event. By connecting the commemoration of an uprising that took place during apartheid (on 16 June 1976) in Soweto when students protested against the imposition of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction, to the postcolonial situation in Marikana where 34 mineworkers were killed while on strike, students, activists, and researchers were able to link the past to the present effectively. Challenging Image 2: Painting of Steve Biko by Mabulu Challenging western or elite forms of knowledge production, which tend to extract from indigenous people, Mabulu constructed the lived experience of the people of Marikana by centring his dreams of the black body of Steve Biko, thus demonstrating what decolonisation means in both theory and practice. Image 1: Exhibition Advertisement Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century | Showcasing UJ Teaching Innovation Projects 2024 121
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