New Direction: Opening the door to talent

Practitioners and lovers of art living in Cape Town will know the AVA Gallery on Church Street well. Art exhibitions were memorable in the late 1980s and 1990s, with opening events pouring out on to the street, creating an impression that this is where art happens.It has since lost its shine.But Portia Malatjie, the new gallery director, wants to bring back vibrancy to Cape Town's oldest non-profit gallery andre-establish it as an exciting centre of the visual arts.