Art comes with risks

TIMELY: Mlondolozi Bradley Zondi in Craig Higginsons Little Foot. Photo: Val Adamson.

Steyn du Toit

DURING the saga surrounding The Spear earlier this year, director of the National Arts Festival Ismail Mahomed defended the rights of artist Brett Murray and the Goodman Gallery. Mahomed says he did so because he believes that freedom of expression is the heartbeat of what SA is as a nation.

“The arts have played a unique role in our liberation struggle, and in post-1994 it continues to play a significant role to help us engage with our identities, struggles and values. The arts define who we are as a nation. We can always choose to walk away from certain kinds of artistic representation that we don’t like or which do not resonate with us, but we should never attempt to dictate to our artists how they should reflect, critique and comment on our world through their work. As artists provoke us intellectually with their work, we must respond intellectually to their work.”

Mahomed warns that not challenging a government’s decision to censor an art exhibition could lead to an even worse future. Taking a warning from the past, he admonishes against following the example from history:

“If we start dictating to our galleries what they should exhibit, then at what point do we have to wait for our libraries to burn the books that politicians don’t want us to read?

“So when it comes to assembling the programme for the National Arts Festival, the balance between staying true to freedom of expression, while trying to keep the festival as accessible as possible, is a very difficult job.

“The festival’s ‘call for proposals’ requires that artists submit an artistic statement motivating their work. If the proposal is engaging and demonstrates innovation, a celebration of excellence or new directions, I become incredibly excited. Unfortunately, the greatest censor that hovers over all South African arts festival is not so much artistic gate-keeping, but rather the challenges of an inadequate arts funding strategy in South Africa that prevents artists from breaking their own glass ceilings.

“As an facilitator between artist and audience, the festival assumes the responsibility of providing indicators when parental guidance might be required,” he explains.

“This gives the audience the right to choose and it gives artists the right to create. At the same time it allows both artist and audience to understand that the exhibition of all art comes with risks, responsibility and repercussions.”

Looking at the highlights on the 2012 programme he promises that this year’s programme is committed to the premise that the arts can become a family lifestyle event.

There are also several new directions in the line-up for this year. Performance art has officially been entrenched as an independent genre in the programme. A new, family-focused venue, in conjunction with ASSITEJ South Africa, will also be launched.

The Student Theatre Festival being revitalised is something that excited Mahomed particularly.

“Similarly, in the visual arts sector, we have engaged a number of visual arts students to work alongside curators and artists so that they can complement their university training.”

The main theatre programme sees the introduction of a Season of Solo Plays. “This plants the seeds for exploring and/or showcasing a different season that is specially curated each year. The festival’s community arts beneficiation programme this year breaks several boundaries with international collaborations and skills transfer programmes.”

2012’s line-up also sees three world premieres. Athol Fugard’s play The Blue Iris coincides with the 80th birthday celebration of the author, which is being marked in various literary and cultural circuits across the world.

Standard Bank Young Artist Zinzi Mhlongo’s play Trapped will be touring to the Salzburg Festival after showcasing in Grahamstown. She will also take one of her other works to the Edinburgh Festival.

Craig Higginson’s play Little Foot also travels to the UK soon after its festival season. “Set in the Cradle of Humankind, this work is so very timely particularly when the international community is celebrating the legacy of the late Professor Phillip Tobias, who was renowned for his work both as an anthropologist and as a humanist.”

Once the festival is done and all the endless paperwork filed, what is the first non-Grahamstown thing Mahomed will be doing? “As always, looking through the travel pages to plan my next holiday.”

l See www.nationalartsfestival.co.za