In Silva: a visual narrative

Wandering In Silva, or “in the forest” you will encounter a visual narrative “brought to life”.Similar to a tableau vivant or a “living picture”, a visual narrative can either be performed live or depicted through an artwork. Conventionally the actors are stationary and silent, carefully posed with props and scenery while the emphasis is placed … Read more

Olivia Botha: Things left unsaid

“As the sky turns from black to blue, as a dress from blue to white, a mother becomes a messenger of another. With the passing of time, we are watching, we are waiting as the ever blue becomes lighter and lighter, transcending to the empty void – the unreachable horizon.For nearly five decades, my grandmother … Read more

EXHIBITION Neville Starling: Worlds are Made and Unmade; I Hear the Music of Spheres 21 NOV – 15 DEC 2020 Preview 21 NOV 2020, 10am – 2pmWalkabout 28 NOV 2020, 11amThe Bag Factory presents the first SA solo exhibition, Worlds are Made and Unmade; I Hear the Music of Spheres by Zimbabwean artist Neville Starling … Read more

DuduBloom: DELICATE/TENDENCY/RESPONSE

DELICATE/TENDENCY/RESPONSE, a solo exhibition by DuduBloom More, the winner of the prestigious 2019 Cassirer Welz Award, presented by the Bag Factory in partnership with Strauss Education and Kalashnikovv Gallery.In this newly created body of work, Bloom uses mixed materials of thread, paper, wool, perspex, inks and more, to explore the delicacy of trauma and the … Read more

Led by Bag Factory Director Candice Allison This workshop will cover the essential components of creating an effective artist portfolio. Topics covered will include portfolio formats; what a portfolio is comprised of and used for; how to tailor your portfolio to different markets; and the basics of documenting your work and presenting your portfolio in the … Read more

Spring Open Studios 2020

Join us on Sat 24 Oct from 11am–3pm for our Spring Open Studios. Drop by and get to know our studio and current residency artists at this free event offering Johannesburg audiences a unique opportunity to see, hear about and discuss the research and work-in-progress that our artists have been developing over the course of this … Read more

About Residencies

The Bag Factory is a professional artist studio space, located on the border of the vibrant suburbs of Fordsburg and Newtown in Johannesburg. We have been operating for almost 30 years and have a stable community of artists from a wide variety of backgrounds. The studio space and its community strive for an open, non-hierarchical … Read more

LIZ KOBUSINGE – Art Connection Africa

2 SEP – 29 OCT 2019 A self-taught artist based in Kampala, Uganda. Her work is situated within the earnest expression of states of mind; mining her experiences with anxiety and depression to inform mixed media work. She explores mental health as illustrated by the interior worlds of women and has used art as a … Read more

Candice Krammer – Self funded Residency

Born in Johannesburg, Candice Kramer holds a BA in Fine Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand. She has had two solo shows at Obert Contemporary and NIROX projects respectively.   Candice has participated in a number of group shows. Her work has consistently been sold into both private and corporate collections including Spier, Nandos, RMB … Read more

Erla S. Haraldsdóttir (ICELAND)

15 JAN – 14 APR 2020Erla S. Haraldsdóttir works with painting, animation, video, and photomontage as a means to appropriate and restructure reality. An academically trained painter, she currently focuses on painting where the physicality of paint and colour create space, light, and shadow. Her work combines figurative motifs, abstract colour, and patterns with painterly … Read more