Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (FADA) academics are showcasing two major interdisciplinary exhibitions exploring memory, environmental justice, and legacy at the Origins Centre in Johannesburg.
Opening on 22 August 2026, After Panic by Ruth Sacks and The Hazel Futa Project by Khaya Mchunu, Thato Radebe, Tobias Barnard, and Zaakirah Delair invite audiences to reflect on what remains after loss, disruption, and historical erasure.
After Panic — Ruth Sacks (Curated by Vaughn Sadie)
After Panic explores the physical aftermath of disaster—focusing on the matter that lingers long after the spectacle has ended and the news cycle has moved on. Sacks’ new body of work probes the ongoing realities of environmental racism on the peripheries of the African city, examining hazards ranging from toxic mine slurry to the encasement of a looted African icon.
The exhibition directly responds to Sacks’ iconic 2005 skywriting artwork, Don’t Panic, created over Cape Town. Where the 2005 piece used an airplane to write ironic text across the sky, this new body of work brings her focus down to earth—specifically to Johannesburg and the geological histories buried beneath it.
Mixing aerial views with intimate studies of objects, After Panic employs gestures of inverting, gauging, and sinking. Featuring artworks reclaimed from dumpsites, imperishable man-made rocks, and reinterpreted museum displays, the exhibition challenges our relationship with a damaged planet rather than offering redemptive narratives of resilience. Hosted at the Origins Centre, the setting creates a deliberate link to the beginnings of the human species, deep geology, and the threat of extinction.
The Hazel Futa Project: The Soil Remembers
Running alongside Sacks’ work, The Hazel Futa Project revisits the legacy of Hazel Futa, Miss South Africa 1955. The project asks a central question: What remains when a story is forgotten, and how do we resurrect historical narratives when the individuals can no longer speak for themselves?
Drawing on the theory of biocentrism, which proposes that life and consciousness are fundamental to the universe and that energy cannot be created or destroyed, the project suggests that while physical bodies decay, the enduring sense of identity remains an active energy.
Using the iconic cover of Zonk! Magazine which featured Futa in her winning garments and jewellery—as a focal point, the research team re-created her dress and adornments. They then inoculated material swatches with microbial samples taken from the soil of her remembered footsteps, cultivating them on agar growth plates. Through this biological transformation, the recreated garments become living sites of continuous growth, demonstrating that forgotten stories, like energy, simply change form rather than end.
Exhibition & Venue Details
- Exhibitions: After Panic (Ruth Sacks, curated by Vaughn Sadie) and The Hazel Futa Project (Khaya Mchunu, Thato Radebe, Tobias Barnard, Zaakirah Delair)
- Dates: 22 August – 26 September 2026
- Opening Event: Saturday, 22 August 2026 at 11:00
- Venue: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (West Campus), Corner Yale Road & Enoch Sontonga Avenue, Johannesburg
- Special Acknowledgement: With special thanks to Ms Pfano Nethudogwa.
Visitor Note: Visitors are requested to bring a valid ID or driver’s license for campus access at the security gates.
