Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
17 August 2021 | Story Lunga Luthuli | Photo Supplied
Christina Mack – believes in praying for communities.

Leaving Rustenburg in the North-West for the Free State, Christina Mack’s life has changed for the better. Mack, a Housekeeping Manager on the University of the Free State (UFS) Bloemfontein Campus, believes in hard work and honesty – these are the principles she has lived by for many years. 

“I was fortunate to get a job as a cleaner at the university in 2006, a position I held until I was promoted to Housekeeping Manager in 2016.

“I believe in myself; I am a hard worker and because I am a manager, I always strive for honesty. When I have a challenging day – especially at work, I engage with colleagues with honesty.”

One of the many UFS women of quality, impact, and care, Mack says she is living the life she imagined through some powerful life lessons.  

“I have learnt that in life, you must appreciate everything that is good, have a vision, focus on education, and know your position. You must not only pray for yourself, but also for your community.”

Women who inspire her include her Line Manager, Ronell Kruger. “She encourages and supports me, and she is a hardworking woman. Ronell motivates her staff. In the team, she is a mentor and supports all of us.”

What worries her is the continued and high number of gender-based violence cases across the country. “Government should create platforms for men to be taught about taking care of women. Women deserve equal rights to their male counterparts.”

News Archive

The Essop twins bring ‘UNREST’ to the UFS
2015-03-19

 

UNREST, an exhibition by Hasan and Husain Essop, is now at the Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery in the SASOL Library on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus. It will be on until Thursday 2 April 2015. 

The 28-year-old twin brothers are the winners of the 2014 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Art. Born and raised in Cape Town, they have been collaborating since their graduation from the Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2007. They both completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a Postgraduate Diploma in Art at Michaelis. Subsequently, they earned Postgraduate Certificates in Education at the University of Cape Town.

Husain specialised in Photography, and makes all the important technical decisions when setting up a shoot. Hasan specialised in Printmaking, and therefore has a lot more freedom in the post-production and printing of the work. They both contribute to the subject matter and editing of the photographs, always discussing new ideas and locations to shoot. They speak very visually to each other, and many ideas are born from their conversations. They draw on popular culture, the media, and Hollywood as inspiration because those are the things that interest the youth and shape the next generation.

“Our series of works highlight a multi-cultural clash between religion and popular cultures,” say the Essops. “We explore the dominating influence of Western theatrics and those narratives that are constructed to depict a certain reality. Inspired by Hollywood’s visual language and tactics, we create our own narratives. Each photograph reflects us in a battle of moral, religious, and cultural conflicts. Two dominant personalities appear, East and West, with all their stereotypes. Environments are chosen as stages on which to perform and define our behaviours.”

The Essops’ work has been included in various private and public collections, including the Spier Collection, the Durban Art Gallery, and the South African National Gallery. The Goodman Gallery has hosted two solo exhibitions of their work – Halaal Art (Johannesburg, 2010,) and Remembrance (Cape Town, 2012,).

The Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery hours are Monday to Friday from 08:30 to 16:30.

For enquiries, contact Angela de Jesus at +27(0)51 401 2706 or DeJesusAV@ufs.ac.za

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept