Exhibitions NOW SHOWING
Temporary Exhibitions
WE THE PEOPLE
Freedom. Dignity. Equality.
On until 30 September 2026
Inspired by Thabo Mbeki’s landmark speech “I Am an African” WE THE PEOPLE uses archival evidence to show the African ideas that inspired our democracy. African intellectuals, academics, journalists and leaders were already conceiving a constitution in the 19th century. By 1923 the ANC already had a Bill of Rights. Through decades of debate, broad consultation, courageous imagination and strategic thinking multiple sources of inspiration were integrated into what became the South African Constitution and its Bill of Rights. It is hoped that by uncovering this story of persistent struggle and resilience, the generations who have inherited its benefits and promises are inspired to continue developing the unfinished project of our democracy in that same spirit today.
WE THE PEOPLE brings the story of the Constitution into the room as a living and ongoing collaboration. Visitors encounter “I Am an African” as poetry, a political vision and an invitation to discover how generations of thinkers, activists, communities and citizens helped shape the values at the heart of our democracy: dignity, freedom and equality.
The creators involved in it
Thabo Mbeki Foundation
The Thabo Mbeki Foundation creates platforms for dialogue, scholarship and public engagement around Africa’s political, intellectual and developmental future. In WE THE PEOPLE, the Foundation helps connect the ideas of African Renaissance, constitutional democracy and active citizenship, allowing the spirit and challenge of “I Am an African” to speak powerfully to a new generation.
Totem Media
Totem Media is the exhibition’s creative and interpretive partner, weaving together research, storytelling, design, art and visitor experience. Its role is to transform a complex constitutional history into an experience that is accessible, layered and emotionally alive - a space where historic voices meet contemporary questions and where visitors become participants in the story.
Curator Lisa Younger and the commissioned artists
Working with curator Lisa Younger, commissioned artists Ntokozo Mudau Dumisani Jere and Ogorogile Nong bring fresh creative voices into conversation with the Constitution, “I Am an African” and the histories explored throughout the exhibition. Their works do more than illustrate the past: they interpret it, challenge it and open new questions. Through their different practices, they invite visitors to ask what dignity, freedom, equality and belonging mean now - and what these values demand of us today. Together, the curatorial and artistic programme keeps WE THE PEOPLE alive as a conversation between history, art and the public.
Contact details:
Sam Horowitz + 27 (72) 581 0624 sam@totem-media.net
Amanda Xulu +27 (61) 508 7056 amanda@totem-media.net
IKHAYA LIKA MOYA by Sethembiso Zulu
Opening 1 August at 13:00. On until 1 September 2026
Ikhaya Lika Moya is a multidisciplinary installation that explores African spirituality through photography, sound, moving image, and installation. Drawing from years of research and lived experience within African Independent Churches, the exhibition reflects on breath, spirit, memory, ritual is carried through communal practices. Sethembiso Zulu (@sthe.zu) as a healer, presents multi-sensory encounters of Black-and-white photographs alongside tactile, olfactory senses, and the use of fabrics to create a space where images become immersive rather than simply viewed or read. The exhibition invites visitors to move through the work, encountering shifting layers of light, sound, and atmosphere that echo the presence of uMoya as a polysemy and its multiple layers of meaning. Rather than offering definitive answers, Ikhaya Lika Moya opens a space for reflection on faith, belonging, and the enduring presence of African spiritual traditions.
Sethembiso Zulu is a Johannesburg-based multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker and visual storyteller whose practice spans photography, film and installation. Drawing on spirituality, ancestral memory and lived experience, their work explores themes of identity, place and socio-political history through immersive visual narratives. More info and artist details: Sethembiso Zulu ; zulu.kampande@gmail.com; +27 79 559 5170
You are warmly invited to experience the exhibition. Please bring ID to get into campus. Parking available in front of the Origins building.
Entrance is free on 1st August 2026, thereafter R40/R70 (this gives full access to the museum and all temporary exhibitions).
Enquiries: bookings.origins@wits.ac.za; 0117174700
Permanent Exhibitions
The interactive exhibits at Origins Centre take visitors on an extraordinary journey of discovery, which begins with the origins of humankind in Africa and then moves through the development of technology, art, culture, and symbolism. The journey continues with an exploration of the diverse Southern African rock art traditions. These ancient masterworks, and the artists, are illustrated through contemporary art installations by well-known South African artists.
Our permanent exhibitions:
- Indigenous Gardens – edible and medicinal plants from different biomes that were used in the past and currently by ritual specialists throughout southern Africa.
- African Origins - Early African stone tools from 2.6 million years ago; the origins of humanity in Africa and what makes us human; The sands of time across the world; replica hominin skulls showing our human evolution over the last 7 million years
- The San and Rock Art - San and their Hunter-Gatherer past; San genocide and Sara Baartman; The eland in San belief; San painting technologies; The trance dance and how San ritual specialists enter the spirit world; rain making and neuropsychology; Interpreting a rock art panel.
- Rock Engraving Archive - Varied engraved rock art traditions & styles in Southern Africa. Can be explored through augmented reality (Download the app on Android or IOS – originscentrear)
- Conservation - Conservation problems facing rock art sites today and site etiquette
- Tapestry Room – Understanding and interpreting San Art; The history of the San told through 11 embroidered panels; The ‘White Lady of the Brandberg’
- Khoe Art - The geometric art found in southern Africa; Who are the Khoekhoen?
- Early (Iron Age) Farmers - The rise of complex societies, including information on Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe; Protest art of the Makgabeng
- Installations by contemporary artists – One Being by Deborah Glencross; World Map by Walter Oltman; Axis Mundi by Russel Scott; Synanthrope by Hannelie Coetzee; Signs of people by Willem Boshoff; Threads of knowing by Tamar Mason; Double Vision by Pippa Scotness & Malcolm Payne; Glass Beads by Martli Jansen van Rensburg.