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THE ROLE OF ART IN OUR LIVES
Published Date
11 June 2009
Author / Submitted by
Jessica Deutsch
Article Image
A diverse society composed of various races with a wide disparity of incomes forms the backdrop for life in South Africa today. Tribal peoples abiding by ancestral rules are moving from rural areas to integrate with urban communities of different beliefs. The black urban community in turn works closely with the white community which itself is splintered into peoples from various backgrounds with distinct heritages. The future as to how the country is going to develop is uncertain. What role does art play in the life of the people?
Essentially for many it is a binding force. For some it brings together questions and offers answers as to what life is now. For many it is a way of reaching what they themselves cannot see. Here a few examples of the role of art as interpreted by some SA artists.
For centuries the Swazi, Zulu and Xhosa people, however much they have integrated into white society, have preserved their age-old culture through traditional ceremonies. Although most are not able to attend such ceremonies it is the brilliance of young photographers in South Africa, such as Eric Miller, who keep these alive for us. Each ceremony is an art form distinguished by elaborate ceremonial costume made from intricate beadwork, an art that is fast dying in South Africa. Dancing and singing, each tribe plays out a particular passage of life, an event within the clan, or calls on the power of ancestral spirits. Such beliefs enacted over the centuries transcend any other social or political change in South Africa and forms an invisible wall protecting these peoples from change. Because there is a wide disparity of incomes in South Africa you will also find large malls filled with stores advertising glitzy jewellery - diamonds and gold chains festooning their windows - while just down the block poor black children will be begging for food as they hang around the car park areas. Beverley Price, a SA jeweller, addresses this issue in the pieces she makes, ranging from a bracelet that anyone can afford, to an intricate necklace held in a museum collection.
For her, the gold and diamond jewellery you see in malls equate to the walls you find in the white suburbs - they are tokens of false security. They are symbols of the isolationist society that dates back to colonial days. She discards such materials choosing instead tin can or aluminium to make bright coloured bracelets that refer to foodstuffs vital to black life in the streets. Or she may make a more intricate design using materials picked up on her travels but allowing the skill of her hand to turn this into a masterpiece showing that it is the skill of the artist to turn it into something that speaks a universal voice for Africa.
How the country is going to grow is addressed with glee by a young black artist, Sidwell Rihlamvu, whose canvasses sparkle with bright pinks and glowing green. He has a different view. Having grown up along with the walls going up in the streets of the cities and the suburbs, he regards them with amusement. He paints them with bright colours. And in the passage ways between them, he creates a playground for the blacks. Slowly the walls become inverted, like prison walls, only they face the wrong way - the whites being the prisoners on their large estates and the black man on the street growing ever bolder as the women stride with Amazon like bodies and in American style clothes.
As to where South Africa is going, his statement is quite clear. The streets get wider as do the pavements and now there is a new no-man’s-land where black people are pitching tents and setting up home between the wall and the street - and no one is saying anything about it.
The message of each of these artists is really the same - unless black and white, rich and poor move closer together, something new and unfamiliar will come to occupy the territory between them. There is a need for the culture of Africa to transcend fear and ambiguity - and for art to help us understand this transition.
These artists will be on exhibition from 17 June - 15 August at Tisettanta, 11 Grosvenor Street, London, W1K 4QB.
Essentially for many it is a binding force. For some it brings together questions and offers answers as to what life is now. For many it is a way of reaching what they themselves cannot see. Here a few examples of the role of art as interpreted by some SA artists.
For centuries the Swazi, Zulu and Xhosa people, however much they have integrated into white society, have preserved their age-old culture through traditional ceremonies. Although most are not able to attend such ceremonies it is the brilliance of young photographers in South Africa, such as Eric Miller, who keep these alive for us. Each ceremony is an art form distinguished by elaborate ceremonial costume made from intricate beadwork, an art that is fast dying in South Africa. Dancing and singing, each tribe plays out a particular passage of life, an event within the clan, or calls on the power of ancestral spirits. Such beliefs enacted over the centuries transcend any other social or political change in South Africa and forms an invisible wall protecting these peoples from change. Because there is a wide disparity of incomes in South Africa you will also find large malls filled with stores advertising glitzy jewellery - diamonds and gold chains festooning their windows - while just down the block poor black children will be begging for food as they hang around the car park areas. Beverley Price, a SA jeweller, addresses this issue in the pieces she makes, ranging from a bracelet that anyone can afford, to an intricate necklace held in a museum collection.
For her, the gold and diamond jewellery you see in malls equate to the walls you find in the white suburbs - they are tokens of false security. They are symbols of the isolationist society that dates back to colonial days. She discards such materials choosing instead tin can or aluminium to make bright coloured bracelets that refer to foodstuffs vital to black life in the streets. Or she may make a more intricate design using materials picked up on her travels but allowing the skill of her hand to turn this into a masterpiece showing that it is the skill of the artist to turn it into something that speaks a universal voice for Africa.
How the country is going to grow is addressed with glee by a young black artist, Sidwell Rihlamvu, whose canvasses sparkle with bright pinks and glowing green. He has a different view. Having grown up along with the walls going up in the streets of the cities and the suburbs, he regards them with amusement. He paints them with bright colours. And in the passage ways between them, he creates a playground for the blacks. Slowly the walls become inverted, like prison walls, only they face the wrong way - the whites being the prisoners on their large estates and the black man on the street growing ever bolder as the women stride with Amazon like bodies and in American style clothes.
As to where South Africa is going, his statement is quite clear. The streets get wider as do the pavements and now there is a new no-man’s-land where black people are pitching tents and setting up home between the wall and the street - and no one is saying anything about it.
The message of each of these artists is really the same - unless black and white, rich and poor move closer together, something new and unfamiliar will come to occupy the territory between them. There is a need for the culture of Africa to transcend fear and ambiguity - and for art to help us understand this transition.
These artists will be on exhibition from 17 June - 15 August at Tisettanta, 11 Grosvenor Street, London, W1K 4QB.
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