Durban - Controversial artist Ayanda Mabulu said his first political painting was inspired after he witnessed a person being killed.
“I was 12 years old when I drew our chief with the body of a dog because he was responsible for the shooting that happened and the plight of the people at the time,” he told IOL on Tuesday.
He said he was punished by apartheid police for preventing them from taking away belongings of his neighbours.
“We grew up in a hostile environment where people were caused pain by those in power, which is still happening,” the Eastern Cape-born artist said.
Mabulu is in the spotlight after his painting titled Spear Down My Throat (The Pornography of Power) was posted on Facebook and attracted lots of comments.
The painting depicts a nude President Jacob Zuma with his penis down the throat of a woman, who the artist says represents the country, while she is being penetrated by a hyena in a Victorian suit. At the same time, the woman is also being milked into an urn with an ANC label while a teddy bear standing behind Zuma looks on.
On Tuesday Mabulu likened the government to molesters and questioned the dignity of black people who he said are being robbed of what is theirs.
“How a molester may use a teddy bear as a bribe to trick children into doing something for them, our government does this to the people of South Africa who are being exploited when this ‘teddy bear’ is rightfully theirs,” he said.
He said that the teddy bear represented the promises of 1994 and said the white man with the head of a hyena represents who is in control of the economy.
“We are being laughed at and milked dry by the people who control the economy and drink our blood and sweat,” he said.
He said pornography was the lowest form of lovemaking, where the other person is not cared for.
“It is the most disrespectful form of sex where is all for personal gain and that is what is happening in the country,” he said.
Mabulu said, like in the painting, every hole of the South African people is being occupied.
The artist said his work had been denied by many art galleries and called it censorship which he believed needed to be challenged.
In 2013, Mabulu’s controversial painting Yakhal'inkomo might have been the most talked about artwork at the FNB Joburg Art Fair. It was oulled but then put back on display. The painting depicting Zuma's perceived role in the Marikana shooting was later reportedly sold for R89 000.
In 2010, Mabulu's painting Ngcono ihlwempu kunesibhanxo sesityebi - which means “Better poor than a rich puppet” - also featured a nude Zuma with other political figures.
“People are afraid to show my work. You cannot go to a library and blank out pages of a book that you do not like and that is what galleries are doing,” he said.
He said he did not choose to but was chosen to express himself in this manner.
“The blood that runs in my veins are of those who have fallen with unmarked graves,” he said.
He said he considered himself a teacher, educating people through his artwork.
“I will not stop till our people come to a realisation about what is really going on,” Mabulu said.
IOL MOJO