Kali van der Merwe

Kali van der Merwe
Biography/Filmography

Kali van der Merwe is an experimental artist, filmmaker and photographer currently based in Cape Town, South Africa. She holds a degree in Fine Art majoring in sculpture. Her early work has been collected by the Iziko National Gallery South Africa and exhibited at MOMA in Oxford England.

Living in Berlin in the early nineties after the wall came down, her work became experimental involving digital and analogue technology. She collaborated with various underground collectives creating installations and ‘alive electric environments’ in Berlin, Amsterdam and Zurich.

Returning to South Africa in 1995 she began making documentaries about social issues. In 1996 she co-founded Other-Wise media, a non-profit organisation which produces innovative media on under-explored topics and conducts training with youth and women. Kali’s documentaries produced by Other-Wise media have been screened around the world and have won numerous awards.

Her first documentary, “Iduma Elingopiyo, The Wound that does not Bleed” (1997), co-produced and co-directed, is about children and youth living on the streets of Cape Town and was filmed over a period of two years. Competing with feature films, it came second in the Best Foreign Film category at the AdriaticoCinema Festival, Italy.It has been screened at different film festivals around the world and has been made into a book by the same name.

“The Bottom Line” (2000) commissioned by RAI 3 Radio Television Italy, explores the excessive profiteering of pharmaceutical companies from AIDS drugs.

“Doing it!” a 52 minute documentary Kali independently produced and directed in 2003, explores issues around female sexuality. It was screened on SABC 1 for two consecutive years to commemorate National Women’s Day. “Doing it!” won the audience prize at the Cinema delle Donne Film Festival, Turin, Italy; the jury award at the Ismailia Film Festival, Egypt as well as a Golden Stone award in South Africa from the National Television and Video Association (NTVA).

Kali’s independently produced and directed, “BROWN”, (2004), a a 54 minute cross-genre, historical and musical documentary where the issue of forced removals is explored. Through the eyes of Ernie, a successful and talented young singer her grandparents’ and parents’ story of dispossession unfolds. The resilience of the family emerges as well as the high price they paid. “Brown” won first prize in the African Documentary section of the 15th African, Asian and Latin American Film Festival, Milan, Italy; Best South African Documentary at the 26th Durban International Film Festival and Best Documentary at the Apollo Film Festival in Victoria West, 2005, South Africa.

Her photographic exhibitions, "ssense, erotic reality journey" and "Captive" were shown at the Castle of Good Hope as part of the Month of Photography 2002 and 2005 respectively. Her experimental videos "digitalove" and "out of time", were both part of the official selection for the Brett Kebble Art Awards 2003 and 2004. Working in theatre, she has collaborated with the Mothertongue Project creating multimedia installations for the productions "Uhambo, Pieces of a Dream", shown at the main festival in Grahamstown 2004 and "Breathing Space" showcased at the Voorkamerfest in Darling 2005. In 2006 she created a large body of documentary photographs for the exhbition "Face the People, portraits and stories honouring community health workers", a project of the Provincial Department of Health.

In 2007, Kali created large bodies of documentary photographs for the South African TB Vaccine Initiative, SATVI. The exhibitions: Recovery of Body Mind and Spirit, Brewelskloof Hospital’ and ‘Re:Search, developing an effective TB vaccine’ have been shown at hospitals, academic institutions, cultural initiatives, conferences in and around the Western Cape.

Currently she has been commissioned to create a TV series focusing on male sexuality and is working on ‘w-hole – male portraits’.