Assoc Prof Fritha Langerman

Artist Fritha Langerman of UCT's Michaelis School of Fine Art curated a major exhibition at the Iziko South African Museum earlier this year that explored the unlikely topic of infectious diseases and the complex inter-relationship between the zoological, human and microbial worlds.

As the title suggests, Subtle Thresholds investigated the tenuous boundaries that enclose both the physical body and the bodies of knowledge through which disease is understood.

Langerman spent over two years developing the exhibition, combining thousands of elements to examine the historic and current visual representation of disease.

These included objects from the Adler Medical Museum (Wits) and the South African Museum, projections, sculptural elements, digital images and textual interventions.

The work was funded by the Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Arts, the National Arts Council and the NRF.