BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS:
Name: Simmi Dullay
Date of birth: 01 December 1973
Address: 75 Riddick Avenue, 4091 Reservoir Hills, Durban, South Africa.
Gender: Female
Current Study: Masters Degree: Fine Art. (Durban Institute of Technology)
Contact Telephone details : Mobile 084 569 1432; home 031-262 8912
E- mail : sdullay@gmail. com
Special Note : In 1978, when I was just over four years old, my family fled into exile as a consequence of persecution in Apartheid South Africa. My parents were activists in the Black Consciousness Movement with Steve Biko and later in the African National Congress (ANC). My exile experiences are largely from Denmark, Scandinavia, Europe and Tanzania (where my parents taught at the ANC’s Solomon Mahalangu Freedom College). I was repatriated with my parents, under the United Nations Repatriation Programme to SA in July 1992. I returned to Denmark in 1994 and finally settled in Durban, South Africa in 1998. My art and writing largely deal with questions of identity, anti-racism and anti-sexism.
Language proficiency : I am fully bilingual in Danish and English (read, write and speak). I understand Norwegian and Swedish.
EXPERIENTIAL DETAILS:
Schools attended in Denmark: Primary and Secondary Education obtained in Holme Folkeskole, and at Aarhus Friskolen as well as at the Eriksminde Efterskole, Eriksminde, Aarhus, Viby Amts Gymnasium (Denmark), Arhus Kunst Skole
Durban Technical College, South Africa
Tertiary Education: National Diploma: Fine Art ( DIT 2003)
Bachelor of Technology: Fine Art (2004) at Durban University of Technology, 2004
Current Study : Towards a Masters Degree in Fine Art, Durban University of Technology.
Work history
-1993 teaching art to disabled children at the R P Moodley School, Reservoir Hills, Durban
- 1994 Self employed; T-shirt’s and other textiles which I designed through screen printing, dyeing and painting, distributed and sold at galleries, clothing boutiques, markets and festivals.
-1993/94 Freelance mural painter in Durban.
-1995 worked at ‘Kvinde Museumet’ a women’s museum in Denmark setting up exhibitions and management of the Café. -Late 1995 worked at a Kunst (Art) School in Denmark as an events organizer and drawing model.
-1999 worked in a psychiatric hospital in Denmark, Riskov Psykiatrisk Hospital, in the Gallo School where I ran an open printing workshop, combined with the practice of art (healing) therapy.
-2006 Working at the NSA for the “FNB Craft Now 2006” exhibition.
-2007 July, Working at the Gallery of Durban University of Technology co-curating the exhibition “Images of Remembrance” as a part of the Africa Without Borders International Conference.
-2007 Work on Conference “Towards an Africa Beyond Borders”
-2007 worked on publication “Abiku” created by Mukoma wa Thiongo (the son of the seminal Kenyan anti-colonial author Ngugi wa Thiongo) defining a new critical African voice, articulating contemporary issues of our generation in the age of globalization.
Exhibitions : I have participated in the following exhibitions, solo and group :
-Gopio Visual Arts and Crafts Exhibition 10-12 July 1998 Durban Art Gallery.
-‘My Life: Reflections of Women’s Lives’ 8 August -7 September 2003, Durban Art Gallery.
-Bean Bag Bohemia October 2003 - March 2004.
-Bat Center Women’s Day, August 2004
-Women’s Day- Imvubelo 2004, Durban Art Gallery.
-Peter Engblom’s Gallery. Exhibition title: ‘TERRA INCOGNITA’ November 2004-January 2005. (Solo)
-Red Eye ‘Rouge’ 2005, Durban Art Gallery, 1 April 2005.
-Bean Bag Bohemia: Photographic section of ‘TERRA INCOGNITA’January 2005
‘Art on Paper’. May 2005. NSA Gallery.
-Bean Bag Bohemia: 2006 Group exhibition. Title: “CURRENCY”
-Thupelo Workshop. Durban. August-September 2006. Exhibition at the African Art Centre, Durban.
- August 2006: Women’s Day exhibition at the Durban Art Gallery
- Exhibition title: 100th Gandhi Satyagraha Exhibition 1-15 September 2006 in New Delhi, India at the
Travancore Art gallery, sponsored by the Indian Government and in Kasthurba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi. I was the only South African artist to have six pieces selected for exhibition.
- The same exhibition was held in South Africa at The Kizo Art Gallery, Gateway, Umhlanga,
Durban between 2 – 15 October 2006 (2 October, Gandhi’s birthday).
- “Heritage Festival” 2007 September. The Kizo Art Gallery
- KZNSA GALLERY: “Durban - A Paradise and its People”. 2007 August-September
-Bean Bag Bohemia. Group Exhibition. 2008.
I have been mentioned several times in Peter Machen’s guide to Durban. My portraits and other works are featured there as well.
I have been invited by the City of Amsterdam, Netherlands to exhibit four of my pieces in the city during the “Afro Vibe Festival” in September 2008. This will be also exhibited in Paris, France later in 2008.
Special Note : I am particularly adept at using art as a part of healing therapies across all ages. I believe that many of my skills can be usefully taught as income generating activity.
