Memory and Magic: Contemporary Art of the !Xun and Khwe at Iziko SANG
By Samuel Waumsley
'Memory and Magic: Contemporary Art of the !Xun and Khwe' displays the paintings and lino-cuts of artists who are involved in the internationally funded !Xun and Khwe Cultural Project, which has been running for nearly two decades in communities in the Kalahari of the Northern Cape. This is the first time that the exhibition, which has travelled overseas to great acclaim, has been held in South Africa.
Flai Schipipa, Ferciano Ndala and Stefaans Samcuia are among the more prominently featured artists in this show. Their especially colourful and emotive work is accentuated by the clean, white cube of the single, spacious exhibition room. A catalogue and introductory poster provide the historical and political background both to the !Xun and Khwe people and the cultural project itself. In these explanatory texts, the artists are positioned as modern artists with a rich and complex heritage. On entering the exhibition it is clear that the collection is steeped in a cultural theme that appears to be strongly influenced by this heritage, in for instance, the ubiquitous animal and plant subject matter. Yet to what extent is this heavily, culturally-inspired art representative of the reality of the modern artists to which the catalogue refers?
Samcuia�s Thornbush and Eland is clearly an abstract and beautiful work but it also illustrates his exclusive use of 'natural' subject matter such as animals, plants or the weather, along with a traditionally African zigzag pattern. Similarly, in Samcuia's Thorntree, Foodtree and Gemsbok, aspects of what might be termed ancient or archetypal 'bushmen' art are drawn upon. He paints gemsbok with their heads facing the viewer and their bodies profiled - a foreshortening technique universally employed in ancient rock art.
Indeed, most of the art on display is imbued with the form and content of what may be thought of as traditional or archetypal 'bushmen' art. Ndala's Flowing Water, Animals includes a naked human figure with a bow and arrow and very obviously refers to a view of ancient 'bushmen' identity. The overarching 'natural', 'ancient' and cultural focus of the collection could be criticised for furthering stereotypical and condescending notions of the African or of the 'bushman' as rigidly ancient, natural and mystical while obscuring the complex socio-economic and political positions of modern African 'bushmen'.
The distinctive, yet unidentified, San music that plays softly in the background of the exhibition might also be viewed as potentially loaded with significance. While the music itself is wonderful, musical accompaniment to a visual art exhibition seems immediately unusual. Along with the repeated form and subject matter of the collection, this could prove problematic considering both factors highlight the common 'bushmen' theme over and above the individual artist's work.
The individual artist or auteur is a fundamental component of modern art, which typically endorses a cult of the artist. Within this context, the typically shared form and content of cultural art often seems alien. Coincidentally, and possibly problematically, the Africana-orientated gift shop of Iziko SANG operates a few metres away from the exhibition. The two spaces could be said to complement one another rather too well. Yet perhaps this plethora of Africana could be taken as a positive indication of the popularity of African cultural production today, although the place of the individual artist within such a cultural grouping is not always distinct.
Should the individual artist be subsumed, or subsume themselves, into a larger identity grouping and draw upon its associated artistic media tradition, particularly when such media have become socially and historically loaded? A contemporary African artist who works in a traditional sculptural medium would be wise to be wary of labels like 'curio' and 'craft'. It does appear, however, that drawing upon and celebrating one's heritage can sometimes be the most appropriate response to marginalisation. Identity and heritage is focused upon in much contemporary South African art - in the work of Zanele Muholi and Nicholas Hlobo, for example. The measure of success might then be the degree to which the artists regain artistic ownership of their identity.
Flai Shapipa's Two Houses, Three Buck offers an urban and modern twist with its inclusion of the relatively modern subject matter of a small western-looking house. Her art might thus be taken as referring to both modern and ancient cultural identities. Yet surely even the 'purer' culturally reminiscent form and animal subject matter of Ndala's paintings should not automatically bar him from being understood as a contemporary or modern artist? The artistic, ideological, spiritual and political goals of this contemporary collection of artists seem difficult to determine with any certainty.
Perhaps 'Memory and Magic' should be understood as a group showing of talented and expressive cultural artists who will hopefully over time be viewed more as individual !Xun or Khwe artists in their own right than as products or members of the !Xun and Khwe Cultural Project. As curator Carol Kaufmann stresses, these artists, despite their rich heritage, paint in a modern context and not in an ancient, religious and cultural bubble.
Samuel Waumsley is an Honours student at the University of Cape Town
Opens: September 2006
Closes: February 28
Iziko South African National Gallery
Government Avenue, Company Gardens
Tel: (021) 467 4660
Email: cquerido@iziko.org.za
www.museums.org.za/iziko
Hours: Tue - Sun 10am - 5pm
