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Thank you to all who made the 2025 Conference a success!

Photo of the Keynote Speaker, Prof Hlonipha Mokoena, and some of the participants at the SAVAH Conference dinner.

Thank you to all who participated in the 38th Annual SAVAH Conference at the Centre for Visual Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg Campus), from 25 to 27 September 2025. The event was enriched by your thoughtful papers, lively discussions, and generous engagement. We are grateful for the spirit of exchange that made the gathering such a success. Looking ahead, we hope to see you at the 39th Annual SAVAH Conference, which will be hosted by Walter Sisulu University (September 2026, Exact Dates TBC). The theme will be: Khumbul’ekhaya: Creative Echoes of Home. The conference will explore artistic echoes and expressions from South Africa, Africa, and beyond that interrogate and complicate the notion of home, not only as a place of belonging, refuge, and sustenance, but also as a space of estrangement, alienation, and trauma. Please follow SAVAH on socials, and visit our website to see the formal Call for Papers when it is released. We look forward to continuing these stimulating conversations and to reconnecting at Walter Sisulu University next year.

SAVAH conference exhibition launch 'the afterlives of things'

The exhibition, the afterlives of things opens on Thursday 25 September 2025 @ 5:30pm at the Centre for Visual Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Ridge Road, M11 and M12 gate entrances, secure off-street parking available). The exhibition features artworks from the teaching collections of UKZN’s Centre for Visual Arts as well as the KZNM’s Departments of Natural and Human Sciences, along with work from UKZN students and staff that responds creatively to those objects. We have created a StoryMap of the exhibition.

Download

Exhibiton Poster 2_0.pdf

Welcome to the SAVAH website!

This is the website of the South African Visual Arts Historians (SAVAH), an organisation of academics and professionals who are dedicated to advancing art history and visual culture.

One of the key activities undertaken by SAVAH is the organisation of an ANNUAL CONFERENCE.

In 2024 we held our 37th Annual SAVAH Conference at the Department of Visual Arts in the School of Visual and Performing Arts, Faculty of Humanities, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, 12-14 September 2024. Many thanks to Dr Vulindlela Nyoni and his team for making the conference such a success!

We also organise or participate in, on an ad hoc basis, workshops, symposia and other activities and events which we send information about to our members and sometimes post here and via our social media. Have a look at the MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS and JOIN SAVAH if you would like to become a member.

We send emails out to current members via a mailing list as well as occasionally via the SAVAH website. To ensure you receive SAVAH messages please check your junk mail and unblock SAVAH mailings, or alternatively contact your email administrator.

Already a member and wondering whether it is time to renew?

Existing members can LOG IN to this website using the credentials generated during the registration process (or click on CREATE NEW ACCOUNT or RESET YOUR PASSWORD). Once you have logged in, click on the 'Renew membership' menu item. You can then view your membership status and renew as necessary. Click on UPDATE DETAILS to keep your details up-to-date so we can keep in touch. If you have any problems logging in to the website, send an email to membership@savah.org.za.

Alternatively, you can use the offline form above to renew your membership.

Our membership cycle runs from 1 July to 30 June, and via this website we send out automated reminders and receipts. If you are not receiving these messages please let us know at membership@savah.org.za.

You can renew your membership directly through this website via PayFast. Alternatively, if you require an invoice to make a payment via EFT, or for group payments (as in institutional departments), please email membership@savah.org.za.

How to become a member

Go to MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS to see the advantages of joining. If you are a first-time member, click on JOIN SAVAH. Alternatively, you can use the offline form below to apply for membership (instructions are on the form).

Our membership cycle runs from 1 July to 30 June but you can join at any time, and if you join for the first time after 1 March of a given year your membership will run up to 30 June the following year (up to four months' bonus membership).