Riason Naidoo

Biography

Riason Naidoo has curated numerous projects including: ‘neuf-3’, a public art project in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis (2021-23); ‘Any Given Sunday’ in Cape Town (2016); retrospective exhibitions on the work of Cape Town artist Peter Clarke in Paris, London and Dakar (2012-2013); ‘A Portrait of South Africa: George Hallett, Peter Clarke and Gerard Sekoto’ in Paris (2013) as part of the South African Season in France; the ambitious ‘1910-2010: From Pierneef to Gugulective’—that comprised 580 artworks from 49 collections and reflected on a century of South African art—at the South African National Gallery (2010); ‘The Indian in Drum magazine in the 1950s’ shown across South Africa (2006-2011); exhibitions on the work of Durban photographer Ranjith Kally in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Bamako, Barcelona, Vienna and Reunion Island (2004-2011). He worked with French activist artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest on ‘Soweto-Warwick’—a public art project that took place in Durban and Johannesburg (2002). In 2012, he was co-curator of the 10th edition of the Dak’art biennale in Senegal; he also curated exhibitions at the 2005 and 2019 Rencontres Africaines de la Photographie in Mali.

Naidoo directed the South African National Gallery (2009-2015); directed the ‘South Africa-Mali Project: Timbuktu Manuscripts’ (2003-2009); managed artistic projects for the French Institute of South Africa (2001-2003); lectured in drawing and painting at the University of the Witwatersrand (1999-2000); managed the art education programme at the Durban Art Gallery (1996-1999).

In 2016 the French Ministry of Culture decorated him with the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters). Living in Paris from 2018-2023, Naidoo was curator and writer in residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts from 2018-2020. He was Institut Français laureate (2018) and a Invited Fellow at the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art (INHA) in 2020-21. Following this INHA invited him to convene a colloquium, which he themed ‘Pioneers of Contemporary African Art’, for which he invited 22 experts from 10 countries to Paris on April 11-12, 2022. He has also been on fellowships to the CAPC Musée d’art Contemporain de Bordeaux in France (2001) and to the Faculty of Fine Arts, M. S. University of Baroda in Gujarat, India (1997).

Naidoo has published widely on modern and contemporary South African and African art in diverse publications internationally. In addition he is editor of ‘Any Given Sunday: A Socially Engaged Public Art Project’ (Johannesburg: Mail & Guardian, 2022); editor of ‘A Portrait of South Africa: George Hallett, Peter Clarke and Gerard Sekoto’ (Cape Town: Iziko Museums, 2013); author of ‘The Indian in Drum magazine in the 1950s’ (Cape Town: Bell-Roberts Publishing, 2008). His feature length documentary ‘Legends of the Casbah’ was shown at the 33rd Durban International Film Festival and in Cape Town, Johannesburg, New York, Gothenburg, Paris and Dubai.

Naidoo held a solo exhibition of his paintings entitled ‘Bridging the Gap’ (1997) at the Natal Society of Arts (NSA) Gallery in Durban. Works from this exhibition are now in public collections in South Africa (including Durban Art Gallery and Pretoria Art Museum). He holds a B.A. (Painting) and an M.A. (Curating) in Fine Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and is currently a Mellon-HUMA Doctoral Research Fellow in Art History at the University of Cape Town.

Riason Naidoo, Independent Curator in Cape Town, South Africa, has been awarded by the Saastamoinen Foundation.