Taxi-012: Sandile Zulu
by Ruth Sacks
This year Sandile Zulu joins David Koloane, Steven Cohen, Jo Ractliffe and others in having a Taxi art book dedicated to his work. This is the 12th book in a series of monographs published by David Krut. As with the majority of other Taxi books, it is generously illustrated with a pleasing balance of image and text. Full colour reproductions of the artist's work are the only visuals presented. Thus, the reader is forced to rely on description and their own imagination to fill in any other visual references. This is a powerful structural tool which serves to focus the experience of reading the monograph.
Colin Richards' essay weaves a complex and dense web of words around Zulu's work. He introduces the artist through associations surrounding objects in his Fordsburg studio. Major themes of past and present, and the polarites of organic and inorganic, rural and urban are stressed. The author also makes much of the artist's use of fire as a medium in many of his pieces. He draws on a wide range of myths, history, fiction and Zulu's own poetry to create a narrative that suitably complements this artistic endeavour.
The text hops centuries and realities, leading the reader from the Classical legend of Prometheus to atrocities committed by the Voortrekkers using fire. The role of fire in the evolution of the human species is mentioned shortly thereafter. This interlinked combination of references is further enriched by allusions to language. In response to the artist's fascination with creating a visual language through his own pyromania, fiery language and metaphor are employed in the text. One of the less obvious examples cited among many others is Sol Plaatje's written response to DW Griffith's Birth of a Nation, 1915 ('... Why should a film... be licensed to fan the embers of race hatred in South Africa?').
Zulu describes his own work as being '... metaphorical rather than direct or obvious...' (p. 48). Richards' writing echoes this, leading the reader through a myriad of influences, connotations, events and experiences to which the work alludes. The author self-reflexively comments that Zulu inspires 'structured hermeneutic wandering'of a literary nature (p. 52). A more linear approach that mapped the biographical details of the artist's life would not be as appropriate a response to the subtle complexities inherent in Zulu's work.
Richards notes that Zulu�s artistic output is interwoven with connotation. While political concerns are implied, there is a greater, overall concern with broader issues of creation and destruction rather than specific narratives. Similarly the text in this monograph is not overtly politicised. Zulu is presented as an intriguing artist in his own right. He is not framed in terms of his blackness or issues surrounding African identity, a trap fallen into far too easily in recent critical discourse. Richards presents a wide range of viewpoints surrounding the artist's work, paying attention to the potentially problematic definitions that have sprung up in the past (for example Sue Williamson and Ashraf Jamal, 1989, and later Hazel Friedman, 1995). His take on issues of African identity are refreshing, with words like 'Afromanticism' and 'Africanity' introduced into the discussion.
This might be quite strong stuff for readers unfamiliar with academic jargon and art history. Nevertheless, the monograph is an insightful and creative addition to this country's art literature. Although verbose at times, it does not bore with clichés. We need more like it.
Colin Richards
TAXI-012 Sandile Zulu
Johannesburg: David Krut, 2005
95 pp. Paperback. R150
ISBN: 0 958 46887 7
Also available: Taxi-012 Educational Supplement by Philippa Hobbs, retailing for R50
Ruth Sacks is an artist who lives and works in Cape Town
