67 minutes of Supporting South African Art! That's what I got up to for Mandela Day!
After attending a conference on Youth led enterprises and skills development practitioners (big words!) hosted by the City of Jozi, I spent the rest of my Mandela Day looking and choosing Art pieces I could buy.
Art is expensive. . Even without the frame!
Nonetheless, I got exposed to a number of young South African and a beautiful Ghanaian artist (Jessica Foli- her exhibition was called Darkie and depicted quotes that 'darkies' say to other 'darkies' like 'where did you get your english') who are a collective of emerging artists called Fresh Produce. Their group exhibition was supported by the Rand Merchant Bank (f#*ken capitalists) and a non profit the Assemblage (@assemblageza).
Another group of talented artists I met on the day were from the East Rand in Ekurhuleni, called Blaque Inq Contemporaries who might be changing their name soon, because 'people' ask them questions like, 'does the name 'blaque' mean you don't have 'white' artists in your group?'???????
Really!!!!!like WTF!!!!!
Welcome to South Africa!!!! #TheWhiteMansGuideToFunding
ANYWAY! LEST WE FORGET! LOL. The Blaque! Not Black! Artists who presented their work were Arthur Thokoane, Kamogelo Masemola and Nicole Phooko. Inspirational and creative work all round straight from Kwa Thema, Extension 1. To Get in touch with them- Facebook- Blaque Inq Contemporaries.
In contrast to Fresh Produce the Blaque not Black Inq group paid for their own exhibition space as a way of getting their work out to the world.
An interesting conversation I had with one of the Blaque artists was around why it was often harder to get Black people to buy art; the answer he gave made think quite deeply because he felt that it was about 'priorities' . . . That in a way Black people didn't have the time or money to make art a priority. . . (Something to think about).
The Art Fair itself had over 50 exhibitions and the main theme of the Exhibition was 'Emerge' which the. MD of Turbine Hall said "Emerge encapsulates so muchabout our world. South Africa Is an emerging market, Newtown and Braamfontein are emerging as cultural centres of Jozi (she said johannesburg- obviously)".
Though the words of the Turbine Hall M.D are true, the event itself represented a microcosm of the Inequalities within South Africa; the luxurious Turbine Hall sits just a street away from Bree Taxi Rank, where in the midst of all the noise and movement there is barely anytime to reflect on words like 'contemporary and abstract'. Singena Ku4-4 and long queues, not Long Island Ice Teas and Live Jazz music. .
Gentrification.
As I put on my head sets and walked 2 streets out of one world into another I recalled the words I saw on Facebook- "People who see gender inequality but can't see racial inequality or vice versa are usually purely self-interested 'actvists'." #LeboMashile .
Next year though I will only celebrate the number of lives lost at Marikana.
These are the last words i send to Mkhulu.
Hamba kahle Tata Nelson Mandela. Siyakubonga Qawe la MaQawe. Umoya wakho u be nathi. uQamata akubusise.
Nelson Mandela’s extraordinary opening statement at his 1964 trial in Pretoria ;
“The government answers its critics by saying that Africans in South Africa are better off than the inhabitants of the other countries in Africa. I do not know whether this statement is true. But even if it is true, as far as the African people are concerned it is irrelevant.
Our complaint is not that we are poor by comparison with people in other countries, but that we are poor by comparison with the white people in our own country, and that we are prevented by legislation from altering this imbalance.”
@Smnukwa
L.s.mnukwa@gmail.com
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