For their eighth Slow Art Day, Artichoke Gallery at MelonRouge in Magaliesburg, South Africa invited visitors to slow down with art and poetry at an interactive morning titled “Afriku: Slow Visions & Whispered Words.” The event paired slow looking at a curated selection of African artworks with a hands-on Japanese haiku writing workshop led by gallery owner Hannelie Sanders.
On Saturday, April 5, 2025, participants gathered in the gallery’s contemplative space to begin their slow looking experience. The exhibition offered a rich range of African art — from textured mixed-media works and figurative compositions to abstract pieces that emphasize line, pattern, and gesture. The diversity of the artworks created varied visual rhythms: some pieces invited attention to bold color and dynamic shapes; others unfolded quietly, revealing depth and nuance through closer observation.
As participants slowed down with individual works, they were encouraged to engage with formal elements such as surface texture, mark making, and spatial relationships, and with the emotional presence each piece carried. These visual qualities provided fertile ground for deep attention, allowing slow lookers to connect more intimately with what they saw.
After an initial period of quiet observation, Hannelie Sanders introduced the basics of Japanese haiku. Participants were then invited to translate what they noticed in the art into their own three-line poems, using mood, imagery, and sensory detail as inspiration. The morning’s workshop emphasized presence, patience, and creative response, encouraging people to let what they saw inform what they wrote.
Following the haiku writing, the group shared reflections over a light lunch. Many spoke of how slowing down shifted their perception, helping them notice details and relationships within the artworks that might otherwise go unseen. In a further celebration of creative engagement, the haiku poems crafted during the session were displayed alongside the exhibition for the remainder of its run through May 4, allowing poetry and visual art to exist side by side.
At Slow Art Day HQ, we appreciate how Afriku wove visual art with poetry (and lunch!) into the slow looking experience. We love that participants’ poems became part of the exhibition itself.
We look forward to seeing what Artichoke Gallery at MelonRouge comes up with for Slow Art Day 2026.
– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
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