Statement 2019
Transcription of the statement for the 21st Biennial
The work I make acts as a mirror to a world that is inhabited by different bodies. In my photographic work, for instance, these bodies are as much material as the landscapes, backdrops and props that may be framed in the artwork. In a self-reflective photographic practice where the body is at the center of the image and the narrative, such as in most of my work, materiality becomes the vehicle through which meaning can be inscribed and retained. Material can also work to prescribe/describe a particular context in an artwork. In most cases the material or the body is often the narrative.
Art has always had the role of mirroring society, especially when critically addressing the memories and legacy of colonialism and apartheid. Art needs to reflect the lived experiences of a particular moment in time. But art can also be a way of retaining memory through culture. So, art can be reflective both as a mirror and as a window into our past. In a context where colonialism engendered the erasure of African culture as a means to exploit its land and its people, the role of memory is key in shaping the future of Africa in the postcolonial era.
In a racialized white industrialist state, labor is an indispensable resource. As such, the discovery of gold and diamonds in South Africa opened the floodgates to the mass exploitation of largely black masculine bodies to dig the ground to extract the mineral wealth under slave conditions. When it comes to my work, the prevalence of the male figure is the result of a biographical reflection on my lived experiences. But this also represents my interest in the role of masculinity and race in the South African story. To a large extent, the social violence and discrimination of the racist South African State was expressed in the harsh ways against the black male body.