Art (in)justified

Nando's ad - right on the money, again1

For nearly two weeks now, the controversy over Brett Murray's 'The Spear' has made headline news in South Africa.

You haven't heard?
Basically, one of the art works in Cape Town artist, Brett Murray's exhibition at the Goodman Gallery depicts our president, Jacob Zuma, in a pose made famous by communist leader, Lenin - with his penis sticking out.

My opinion (because everyone has to have one)
Yes, taken in isolation, this is a rather shocking and insulting reflection of our president. It does degrade Zuma's right to dignity - and I feel for his children (all 22) and his family who have to bear the 'shame'.

Taken in context though, the entire exhibition is a political comment on the government - which has moved so far from the virtues of the Freedom Charter on which it was based all those years ago. Murray, once an ANC supporter, feels disillusioned by what he has seen in these 18 years of democracy and chose to use his freedom of expression, as enshrined in our Constitution, to make a statement.

Did he plan to offend? Probably - as every artist wants a reaction from his work whether it be good or bad. Did he expect so much public attention? I definitely don't think so. The gallery and him certainly didn't expect the surge of visitors and media attention once the ANC started its ranting!

ANC's reaction
The ANC could have chosen to laugh it off (leader of the DA, Helen Zille did when a spoof of her naked circulated on Facebook - although whether that was a deliberate political move is another debate - see the story here if you're interested). Instead they chose to get angry - very angry - with ANC leaders, tripartite alliance leaders and organisations associated with them calling for the painting to be defaced (two citizens kindly obliged, one black, one white for their own reasons - smearing it with black and red paint - see their reasons here).

Back to me
I have to pause for the moment and make a disclaimer - the reason I pointed out the colour of the defacers' skins was because this whole saga has become a racial issue when in fact, I believe it should have just been viewed as 'two disgruntled citizens'. I pointed this out to a colleague who said: "Why is a white guy getting involved anyway?" That's the point!! It's not the fact that one was white, one was black...or that the artist is white and Jacob Zuma is black.....it's about the fact that someone created this art work because he feels so disillusioned about our government - and in particular, the president who has been accused - regardless of whether guilty or not - of bribery, corruption, rape, putting compromised allies in high positions so he can manipulate them for his own gain etc etc etc etc.

Back to the ANC
I just hope that the ANC protest march yesterday to the Goodman Gallery (see IOL's video) will be the start of the end of this mad debate whether a painting of a man and a penis is (a) insulting to the entire black African race (b) an offense to every single ANC member and (c) a racist and unforgiveable act of expression...that should lead to the defacing of the art in question (oh wait, that already happened) and the head of the artist as one religious leader called for.
 
ANC secretary general, Gwede Mantashe then called for South Africans to boycott the City Press for keeping the image on their website (besides the fact that it has gone viral anyway)...finally resulting in editor, Ferial Haffajee formally apologising for keeping the image on City Press's website out of 'fear and care' Can she be blamed for buckling to government's pressure, I wonder?

Where to from here?
There's plenty more angry rantings and racial slurs going around on Twitter, blogs and the real media but for now we will wait for Friday, when the Film and Publication Board (FPB) will decide whether to classify Brett Murray's contentious painting ;The Spear' (see here).

This will then spark another debate on freedom of expression in our country. This debate is good, healthy, and what we need in a democracy such as ours. What he don't need is making every issue about race, calling for the beheading of artists and the destruction of creativity.

Because, then we will be going backwards as a democracy, a nation, a free country ... making 'The Spear' a self-professing prophesy where power corrupts absolutely.