Goodman Gallery is a contemporary art gallery with spaces in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Since opening in 1966, Goodman Gallery has helped shape contemporary South African art, and in the decade since Liza Essers took over as owner and director that tradition has extended beyond local borders. Today, the gallery plays a vital role in supporting international collaborations in South Africa and presenting art that enriches international dialogue around colonial legacies and contemporary geopolitics. This ethos is embodied in the gallery’s 2018 programme, which featured solo exhibitions by Yinka Shonibare MBE, Ghada Amer, ruby onyinyechi amanze, Grada Kilomba, Kudzanai Chiurai and Alfredo Jaar.
Alongside exhibiting represented artists, the gallery´s curatorial programme has grown to include an ongoing series of research-oriented group exhibitions. These initiatives include In Context, which looks at the dynamics and tensions of place in reference to the African continent; South-South, which traces cross-cultural influence and divergence between countries from the ‘Global South’; and Working Title, a platform for emerging, independent production and thinking.
During South Africa’s apartheid years, Goodman Gallery established itself as a space committed to furthering a socially progressive agenda. In recent years, Goodman Gallery has made an effort to continue that tradition by dedicating a part of its programme to non-commercial projects that broaden accessibility to contemporary art through the realisation of ambitious projects in collaboration with public institutions. Recent examples of these collaborative efforts include exhibiting William Kentridge’s The Refusal of Time, and El Anatsui’s first solo exhibition in South Africa, Meyina, at the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town, as well as a helping realise the major installation The Sound of Silence, by Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar at the Wits Art Museum.