Just two months into 1990, former President FWde Klerk announced the radical political reforms that, four years later, were to culminate in South Africa's first democratic elections. How the changes will affect artistic expression awaits South Africans in the future.

Important for me in the early 1990s - and I am sure many others - was an edited version of an African National Congress seminar paper titled 'From Solidarity to Artistic Freedom', by Albie Sachs, who had returned to South Africa after many years in exile. In an article in the Weekly Mail and Quardlan on February 2, 1990, he said:

"Allow me, as someone who has for many years been arguing precisely that art should be seen as an instrument of the struggle, to explain why suddenly this affirmation seems not only banal and devoid of real context but actually wrong and potentially harmful..."

"Instead of getting real criticism, we get solidarity criticism. Our artists are not pushed to improve the quality of their work, it is enough to be politically correct. The more fists and spears and guns, the better...The range of themes is narrowed down so much that all that is funny or curious or genuinely tragic in the world is extruded."

It is interesting that, although art as an instrument of the struggle against apartheid existed in KwaZulu-Natal, over the years it was not nearly as prominent as in other parts of South Africa.

In 1990 the African Art Centre arranged a number of important exhibitions culminating in the Vulamehlo - Open Eye exhibition, coordinated by Terry-Anne Stevenson and sponsored by Alliance Francaise. It was held in the Durban Art Gallery in August.

Before that, at the invitation of Technikon Natal, in May 1990 the African Art Centre assembled an exhibition of 81 works ranging from traditional bead and basket craft to pottery and contemporary paintings. Among the works were paintings by Sfiso Mkame and Mpolokeng Ramphomane, graphic works by Dan Rakgoathe and Azaria Mbatha, and sculpture by Vuminkosi Zulu and Raphael Magwaza. Rorke's Drift artist Harriet Mkhize exhibited two outstanding tapestries joumey to Egypt and NPA Trucks Working on the Road.

Notable were new and younger artists such as Moses Buthelezi, who was an award winner on the Swan Young Artists exhibition, and Joseph Manana, who won an award on the 1991 Natal Biennial.

A preview of a Portfolio of Zulu Historical Linocut Prints by Gordon Mbatha and Joel Sibisi was held at the African Art Centre on April 24, 1990. The portfolio consisted of five prints - three by Mbatha and two by Sibisi - and emanated from a commission in 1981 to weavers at the Rorke's Drift Art and Craft Centre to weave a number of historical tapestries to be hung in the KwaZulu Assembly Building. The linocuts were merely made as a guide for the weavers.

When I visited Rorke's Drift, the two artists said they felt that the lino blocks were not sufficiently incised to make good prints. However, I found them so interesting that I showed them to janjordaan, head of the Graphics Department at Technikon Natal and a professional print maker, whose opinion was that prints could be made. The result was an outstanding portfolio. A limited series of 25 was printed, numbered and signed by the artists, with a cover designed by Maria Criticos. The portfolios were sold at R750 each to public galleries and private collectors.

The Swan Publishing Company launched a national art competition for young artists in early 1990. They called on the assistance of university and technikon art schools and some informal art schools to seek takent and select work for exhibition. As there were no informal schools in the Durban area the Art Centre was appointed to publicise the exhibition and receive works from artists.

The final selection of work for the Swan Young Artists exhibition took place in May and the works chosen were exhibited at the Natal Society of Arts in Durban. Moses Buthelezi won second prize for his drawing Trouble in Bus Service. Another artist from the Art Centre whose work was selected was Sithembiso Cele, a young disabled artist encouraged by the Catholic Church at Verulam.