Central SA
Oliewenhuis: Youth Day to teach history beyond celebration─── REFILWE BEKANE 14:48 Tue, 17 Jun 2025
While Youth Day was about the national reflection of the Soweto uprising, the Oliewenhuis Art Museum in Bloemfontein made a mission of art as an excellent approach for young people to learn about their country’s history.
The Youth Day celebration on Monday (16/6) went beyond just a celebration but also served as a learning tool through art, bringing the past and present more vibrantly to life. As a part of the youth day theme, exhibitions were made the main part.
One educational exhibition, Learning through Art: Museum as Classroom, is a direct commitment to the Grade 10-12 Visual Art curriculum. The permanent collection invites learners and teachers to interact more than in classrooms.
Interim education officer Baitumetsi Moloabi elaborated on the initiative, aiming to educate more people about art. The museum’s mission was strengthened even further by Qula Kwedini, A Solo Exhibition by Mzie Gojo, that concluded its run on Youth Day.
Gojo’s artwork includes cow dung, ‘contextually and creatively’. Photo: Refilwe Bekane
Gojo’s pieces surround themes of the Xhosa tradition, such as identity and collective memory; his artwork includes cow dung, contextually and creatively, said Baitumetsi.
The initiative of educating the learners also extends to the mobile art museum, where the museum educators go to different schools to teach all learners about art.
The event was graced with the live dance performance of young learners at Kgato Primary School, honouring the themes of the Soweto uprising, along with food stalls, and sound therapy for all the visitors.
Meanwhile, OFM News witnessed some of the background work done at the reservoir at the museum. The first Living Earth Therapy workshop, a collaboration with the museum, forms part of building artworks.
With these initiatives, Oliewenhuis Art Museum forms a unique way in transforming art into an appealing way for young minds to learn about the country’s past.
Through its dedicated exhibitions like Learning through Art and the recent Mzie Gojo display, the museum actively engages youth with South Africa’s complex past, offering a visible and relatable alternative to traditional classroom learning.
This approach guarantees that historical awareness is not limited to a particular period but rather is sustained across time via the power of visual storytelling.
