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| Public Intimacy: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts |
In
a world driven by a 24 hour news cycle it is often impossible to get deeper
into issues of our time. We are forced
to listen to pundits on television give us an often very shallow explanation of
events and tell us what to think as if we cannot think for ourselves. I had the
pleasure to visit the YBCA in San Francisco recently and take a look at how the
people of South Africa have experienced post-apartheid society both through
reliving history and blazing new paths into the unknown of the future. Public
Intimacy: Art and Other Ordinary Acts in South Africa is an exhibition of
various art works that very simply presents itself to the audience and allows
them to reflect and think about very important issues that shape our world
today. It started February 21st and runs
through June 29th so you have plenty of time to go see it.
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| Public Intimacy: YBCA |
Much of what I knew about South Africa before I visited
the exhibition was through the news about Nelson Mandela and his struggles
fighting against a very racist and oppressive government. I would never diminish his accomplishments
but his story like that of Washington crossing the Delaware or the ride of Paul
Revere seem to overshadow deeper stories forgotten by most. This romanticized view of issues comes
crashing down quickly when you are looking at many of the photographs,
sculptures, and installations depicting ordinary lives of South Africans. A lot of the exhibit presents photographs
from such people as Ian Berry, Ernest Cole, Billy Monk, and David Goldblatt. Mixed
between the photographs are sculptures by Nicholas Hlobo and drawings by
William Kendtridge. What you learn about what these people captured is not all
that different from our own struggles here in the U.S. We have our own demons still harassing our
progress at every turn and this exhibit goes further into other issues like
homosexuality, aging, and mining that plague post-apartheid South Africa.
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| Zanele Muholi, Caitlin and I, Boston, 2009, chromogenic print |
Even though apartheid ended in 1994,
the struggle between a longing for freedom and the right to intimacy and
privacy has continued in South Africa.
Lost in the racial inequalities presented in such a context are the
stories of South Africans who not only faced persecution because of the color
of their skin, but also because of their sexuality. Nicholas Hlobo uses materials in such a way
to publicize very intimate situations dealing with sexuality. His large sculptures using rubber, zippers,
and ribbons form these organ-like appendages that reference both internal
organs such as hearts and bladders as well as sexual organs. In her photograph triptych Caitlin and I, Boston, Zanele Muholi
shows beautiful color prints of black lesbians contrasted against a white
background focusing the viewer’s eyes on the subject matter. In one example a nude white female lies upon
a black nude female synthesizing the two bodies together while also creating a
yin/yang dynamic.
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| Santu Mofokeng, Denied Access to Graves, 2012, color pigment prints | | | |
The
tragic history of Africa has always dealt with the pillaging and plundering of
its rich culture and natural resources by outsiders. South Africa in its attempts to promote
economic growth was unable to escape what befell the rest of Africa and allowed
its landscape to be transformed permanently by the mining industry. Santu Mofokeng says the landscape is the
witness to such atrocities and he has photographed different areas forever
changed by policies that swept away the history and spirituality of the people
who lived there. In his Ancestors (Graves) series he
photographed the graves of people that were moved by the mining industry. There is no overt political message, but just
the photos of graves lost and forgotten along with generations of memories
wiped away for profit.
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| Billy Monk, The Catacombs, 12 March 1969, 1969, gelatin silver print |
Even in such an oppressive place as South Africa people
found a way to socialize and form underground worlds where they could try their
best to be themselves. In photos that
are reminiscent of prohibition era photos of “speakeasies”, Billy Monk took amateur
photographs of underground Cape Town. Untrained
as a photographer, his Catacomb series
portrays a very intimate look into a world that might not have allowed anyone
else to capture those moments.
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| William Kentridge, Tide Table, Officers with Binoculars, 2003, charcoal on paper |
With so many artists being represented at one time it
made it more difficult to get as knowledgeable about every artist you wanted to
in just a few hours’ time. One artist
who I was somewhat familiar with was William Kentridge. His work spans many years and speaks to both
the intimate and social aspects of South Africa’s original sins. Kentridge has developed a theatrical style art
form using both the studio arts and film.
Meticulously drawing scenes for a single shot and then erasing them, his
palimpsests create a film of agonizing beauty. Themes
of industrialization and colonialism using a character named Soho can be found
telling a story that speaks to the collective souls of the people of South
Africa. It is meant for both the victims
and perpetrators to contemplate their future where they are unsure of how to
proceed. His film Tide Table takes place on a beach where waves seem to wash away the
past and baptize the future. People of mixed color interact while a man sites
alone in an existential contemplation slouched in a chair as the wave’s crash
in. Meanwhile a young boy plays while military officers representing passive
onlookers look at him through their binoculars.
It reminds you of many cases where atrocities are committed with few
people intervening to stop them.
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| Nicholas Hlobo, Umphanda ongazaliyo, 2008, rubber, leather, zippers, steel |
The
best part about the exhibition is that it has something for everyone and makes
you look deeper into how media can be used.
Contemporary artists are allowed to be more expressive in the materials
they use and they often push the limits of what can be done. To visit any show like this it would befit
someone to do a little background on the history of South Africa. Many of the artists purposefully chose their
materials in such a way as to relate them to their message and they took great
time and care in their thought processes. Having this knowledge will only
enrich your experience there and I would definitely recommend this exhibition to
any curious person of history and the arts.
