Barry and Bester

Independent creative collaboration in art, design and media

PO Box 91203 Auckland Park 2006 South Africa Tel +27 (0)11 6461546 Fax +27 (0)11 6469745 Email info@barrybester.com

Hedwig Barry is an award winning designer, music producer, television director and documentary filmmaker. Since obtaining her BA Fine Arts degree from the University of Pretoria in 1992, she has successfully run her own television production company. Barry has produced and directed a number of television documentaries, including Culture in the Contact Zone (1997, SABC3), Wake Up Call (1999, SABC2), and Fokofpolisiekar (2006, SABC2), as well multi-part television series, such as Hitweek (1999, eTV), Style File (DSTV, 2005) and Pitstop (SABC2, 2006). She is also an award winning music video director, having worked with bands such as Tananas, Springbok Nude Girls, Egyptian Nursery and Mafikizolo. She won the 1999 FNB Vita Award for Best Music Video for ‘Seven’ by Tananas and a 2000 Avanti Silver Award for ‘Kanimambo’ by Tananas. In 1998 Barry co-ordinated and documented a series of music production workshops by internationally-renowned musician and music producer Brian Eno. Most recently, she was one of the executive producers of The Thula Project: An Album of South African Lullabies (2003). Barry has been a designer and creative director on a number of design projects, including album artwork for Tananas, brand and marketing development for Pure Lustre (2002-2004), urban placemaking development for the Rosebank Management District (2005), and the art book for the South African Reserve Bank (2006-2007).

Rory Bester is a writer, art historian and curator. He has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Cape Town, where he majored in Art History, Political Philosophy, and Religious Studies, a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in Art History (First Class) from the University of Cape Town, and a Master of Arts Degree in Art History (Cum Laude) from the University of the Witwatersrand.  He is currently a doctoral fellow in the Constitution of Public Intellectual Life Research Project at Wits University. Since 1994, he has taught art history and media studies at the Wits School of Arts at Wits University and the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town. His teaching areas include the history of photography, contemporary South African art, migration and Diaspora studies, as well as archive and museum studies. Bester has curated and co-curated exhibitions in Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States. Bester has presented a number of conference and symposium papers on South African photography, including the ACASA Triennial Symposium on African Art (New York, USA and New Orleans, USA), Institute for African Studies (University of Cologne, Germany), the History Workshop (Johannesburg), Documenta XI_Platform 2 (New Delhi, India) and the KZNSA’s Young Artists Programme (Durban). He has written catalogue essays for various galleries, museums and artists’ prizes, including the Bell-Roberts Gallery (Cape Town), Camouflage (Johannesburg), DailmerChrysler Prize, Christie’s London, FNB Vita Art Prize, Goodman Gallery (Johannesburg), Recontres d'Arles (Arles), South African National Gallery (Cape Town), Standard Bank Young Artist Award (South Africa), and White Box (New York). He has also published a number of essays and reviews in journals such as African Arts, Art South Africa, Flash Art, Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, Portfolio: Contemporary Photography in Britain, Prince Claus Fund Journal, South African Historical Journal and Zuidelijke Afrika.