Positions Contemporary Artists in South Africa
Edited by Peter Anders and Matthew Krouse
(Jacana, R280)
There aren’t many books out there covering the contemporary art scene in South Africa and when they do, they’re usually academic and tough to access.
This is a time when South African artists are establishing themselves in a particular fashion and style that is their and the country’s own. They reflect a society that is informed by new rules and a novel way of living that needs to be reflected by people who can tell their stories.
It’s fascinating to discover artists you haven’t heard of even when you’re working in the field, but because everyone is so stretched today, there’s no way people can reach across such a huge divide and be au fait with what’s happening in this sphere across the country.
What the book does is capture a particular spirit of the country and a particular artistic community with voices that are extraordinary and individual and don’t tread a commercial line. These are artists who are defined by their work and stand for a particular ethos.
The editors start the book with a chapter titled, provocatively, Love in the time of Zuma: Mandela’s children reach adolescence. They state there is an urgency to discuss the nature of cultural production in relation to power and to look at how artists are facing the challenge of engaging with the past while making sense of the present. “For this reason,” they write, “a book like Positions becomes something of a thermometer – an instrument which can gauge the temperature of society. This can be done by examining the work being created by artists who talk directly to the society they live in about power and representation, two of the most inflammatory issues South African artists face today.”
They also explain the nature of the artists covered in the book. Of course, plenty will argue about the many artists who get to tell their stories, while others might merit similar recognition. They recognise that there is a proliferation of artists in post-apartheid society and yet the distribution of facilities for artists to show their work is still lacking.
What they hope to achieve is to present a range of artists, including three initiatives who are using collective voices to reach a broader audience. Obviously the list is subjective, but it also constitutes a diverse group dealing with issues through a variety of mediums.
They acknowledge that no list is complete, but add that they have focused on artists they believe are making a lasting contribution to dialogues about “nationhood and development, power and gender, tradition and history”. Think, for example, of performance artist Peter van Heerden and what he has to say to the world about his people and his place in contrast to Mpumelelo Paul Grootboom, who is also looking at his world from a particular vantage point. They are from the same country, which they view from different angles, yet they have equally harsh but incisive and insightful thoughts to share with those who can get down and into their work.
It’s fascinating stuff to get into the hearts and heads of artists who are working in a world that seems to be shifting constantly. At the moment, technology is racing ahead of even those who thought they had their fingers on the pulse. As artists who hold mirrors to society it must be the most challenging time to express where they think we are and how they believe they can tell their stories.
What the editors did aside from selecting specific artists is also choose a variety of writers who would tell their stories and one starts off worrying that specific agendas are pushed, for example in an essay in conversation Rodney Place says to dancer/choreographer Boyzie Cekwana: “The work was quickly characterised by liberal white feminists as an essay on woman abuse with you as a ‘good boy’.” In response, Cekwana says: “Actually the characterisation of the piece as an essay on woman abuse was mine.” But fortunately there’s not much of that pushing of ideas on artists who then have to make their point of view clear .
From photographer Guy Tillim to Chimurenga literary magazine. urban geographer Ismail Farouk to theatre director Brett Bailey, graphic designer, conceptual artist and avant garde musician Michael McGarry, artist Nandipha Mntambo, one of this year’s National Arts Festival Young Artists, spoken word poet Lesego Rampolokeng and the Hector Pieterson Memorial and what this precious space says to a nation both about the past and the future, it’s a wide spectrum that’s showcased.
But that is what makes the arts in this country such a joyous place to be. Artists are coming from so many different perspectives and are speaking their minds in such spectacular yet different ways to get their message out there, or simply to be heard, that if you listen, it becomes an intense yet mind-blowing conversation.
Some of that is captured in this book for this moment of time. They’re dealing with a world that will have a different face tomorrow, but that is why there have to be these snapshots before they disappear completely. Life is so fast that everything seems to flash by without anyone standing still and taking the temperature.
Positions is a marvellous effort that is part of an international book series initiated by the Akademie der Künste and the Goethe-Institut. If you want a taste of some of the artistic voices making an impact all across the country, read this.