A new group exhibition explores the history and contemporary pheno-mena of comparing humans to animals. Curator Nkule Mabaso has summoned some of South Africa’s key and emerging artists to respond to derogatory animalisation comments in the media. She told VALERIA GESELEV that artists are important in reflecting on current social movements.
DOGS, pigs, cows, lions, donkeys, hyenas, a penguin and an owl are coming to stay at Michaelis Galleries, for a month, as part of The Circus and the Zoo group exhibition until July 19.
The exhibition is curated by the young and promising curator Nkule Mabaso as a means to explore the different ways humans use animals in allegoric references. The conversation couldn’t be more relevant to the wider public discourse, as is stated in the exhibition poster – “the year has been marked by Black outrage over the dehumanizing ideologies of the entrenched racism in South Africa”.
Mabaso explains the inspiration for the exhibition, “Look at how this year has unfolded, with references in the media to monkeys. It made me think of how allegory has been used by artists to make a human-animal comparison that is not derogatory, but has a critical element to offer.
“The exhibition goes beyond the binary racialised one-to-one statements, like ‘black people are monkeys’ that date back to Darwinian kind of thinking. My intention is to say that different kinds of comparisons can be made as a critique.”
According to Mabaso, “Animals became a metaphor of speaking about human problems.
“We put human characteristics on animals: the hyena is evil; the lion is proud, and so on. That’s our imposition of our understanding of life into the animal world.”
It’s a very sensitive field that she’s taking the audience through. “One to one comparison as shown in the media has a long history with certain kinds of animals and motivation to oppress certain people. It’s not an easy road to go down, but we must be challenged,” she says.
Does she feel that an exhibition is a good tool for challenging social constructions? “It does have possibilities do draw all these things together to give a timeline and framing.
“Allegory and metaphor are very important vehicles for talking about societal issues. The artworks are easy to understand and read, but they also give the person a space to put in their own meaning. An exhibition is a three-way conversation between what the artist intended, how the work functions and how the viewer brings their own subjectivity.”
The art world usually has its own themes and questions. You create an interesting linkage between the public discourse and the artists, which rarely come together.
“The art should not be so distant from what is happening. We are not functioning outside of the society, we are embedded in it. We need to have the same kind of urgency in responding to things that are happening now.”
“I’m interested in all kinds of conversations. We all are bombarded on social media, and must think of a way to respond. Perhaps this is my way to respond – to have shared conversations between myself and the artists. It’s parallel with the same conversations that everyone else is having.
“Our conversation is taking a different form, but speaks to the same urgent questions that everybody has.
“It’s not just a set opinion, but plurality. We’ve got to be open to all opinions in order to have a balance and wider understanding.”
The exhibition, which opened last week, features seven artists who are based in, or originate from South Africa.
Mabaso curated a combination of works from iconic and older artists, like Dolla Sapeta and the late Dumile Feni; with emerging artists, like Nandipha Mntambo and Ronald Muchatuta.
What inspired her to mix older artists with younger voices? “It’s important to consider all voices and position the works next to each other.
“If we focus on the already established artists – we neglect the new and younger voices who also have something to say, which is reflective of now. Balance needs to be made in the framing of an exhibition.”
What kind of responses does she expect? “If we are able to raise questions with the exhibition – it will be a good job.
“We are not prescribing any kind of reaction.”
Do artists impact on society? “Artists are important in reflecting on the current movements.
They are capturing creatively the now. Artworks are more concrete than fleeting posts on social media. The works become archives of the moment. An exhibition has a potential for a different kind of conversation.”
“Here in the exhibition, we have more critical stances. Nandipha Mntambo’s work, for example, is about women’s position in society. Using cow skin in her sculptures, she creates a comparison between a woman and an asset that gets passed between men through marriage”.
Mabaso is 28 years old. She was born in New Castle, KZN and came to Cape Town to study art, at UCT Michaelis Art School.
She later founded the New Castle Creative Network and went to do her Masters in Curatorship in Zurich, Switzerland. Last year, soon after she came back to South Africa, she was appointed as the curator of Michaelis Galleries.
Speaking of her agenda as a curator, she says: “Within all the constraints one finds in an institution, my angle has been to open up the space and bring in different formats of engagement in exhibitions, different thoughts and questions which exist out there and are not always heard. I’d like to bring more discursive and engaging models.
To find less represented voices that are relevant to the context, which opens up the gallery into a wider context – so it is not just about the school and its graduates”.
l The Circus and the Zoo is at Michaelis Galleries, UCT Hiddingh Campus, Orange Street, from Tuesday to Friday 11am to 4pm until July 19. Information: 021 650 7170, [email protected]