Positive: AIDS in 2005
by Francesca Verga
'Positive: AIDS in 2005', currently on display at the Durban Art Gallery, deals with the ever-controversial topic of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Our country has one of the highest incidences of HIV positive people in the world, and we are forever being bombarded with statistics associated with the disease. This exhibition explores HIV/AIDS and its impact on society through various visual media.
This is not the first exhibition of its kind that the Durban Art Gallery has hosted. The 'AIDS 2000 Ribbon' project visibly changed the façade of the City Hall, home of the Durban Art Gallery. This project involved the wrapping of the gallery in a large red fabric ribbon, 500 metres in length, 4 metres wide and weighing in at 700kgs. The project was inspired by the13th International Aids conference, which was held in Durban during July 2000.
Exhibition curator Carol Brown has chosen to include a range of artists on the show, all of the works focusing on the impact of HIV/AIDS in contemporary South Africa. None of the works were commissioned for the exhibition, but were selected from previous projects and exhibitions. The artworks focus on AIDS awareness, the reality of the disease and its far-reaching deadly grasp on all communities.
The current exhibition includes Body Maps created by 14 HIV-positive Khayelitsha residents and previously shown at SANG. The Body Maps are imaged as outlines of their bodies that have been mapped to show the presence of the disease. These become vehicles for HIV/AIDS sufferers to share their experiences and stories. The body mapping process captures the marks that life leaves on the body. A woman known as Nomawhethu paints the virus in her body, the image of a snake representing the pandemic and marks on the flesh resembling itchy, and pocked skin.
Langa Magwa's Uphondo (horn) is a maquette for the larger work at the Africa Centre in Mthubathuba, which specialises in medical research on the virus. The frame for the sculpture is constructed from steel and the horn is woven from cow-hide. He intends that eventually the hide will rot and disintegrate and the sculpture will need to be rewoven. The traditional skill of grass weaving is typical of the region and it is hoped that the women of the area will take an active role in the renewal and continuation of such traditions. The horn shape is symbolic of the medicinal properties of animal horn used in traditional healing as well as the power invested in the horn to ward off evil spirits.
The wooden HIV-AIDS sign sculpture by Bafana Mkhize is shown at eye level, demonstrating the significance that the Aids ribbon and its connotations have in our society. The emblem of the ribbon is powerful and demands a moment of thought for those that are infected/affected. The David Goldblatt works, from the series 'In the Time of Aids', depict barren landscapes with the easily recognisable symbol of the deadly disease. No matter where the symbol appears the impact is clear.
The beaded tableaux on exhibition by Gabigabi Nzama titled Sexual Harassment I and II deal explicitly with the rape and intimidation of women in rural communities. Hilton Gaza's Ubani Ozsindwa Kwi AIDS? (Who is going to survive with AIDS?) depicts the grim reaper overpowering a female figure, symbolic of the disease.
In his work, Virus, 2004, Churchill Madikida, investigates HIV/AIDS and its devastating impact on individuals, cultures and society. The AIDS virus is depicted as a microscopic image, which surrounds the figure of the artist at the centre. The four part series alludes to how the virus alters the body of its human host.
Dineo Bopape's work Love Conquers All is a sign constructed from red neon tube lighting. According to the artist, the cliché conventionally expresses notions of romantic, religious and nationalistic love. This has, however, been re-contextualised, in our HIV/AIDS context. Bopape explains, 'The phrase sits like a martyr or a hero that promises to fulfil this desire but fails to do so�it is a grand promise to rescue, save and resurrect but like a mass-produced ready-made, leaves one's desire and longing still unfulfilled� and death seems closer.'
Finally, Lobilile Ximba's mixed media work entitled Co-wives and Baby depicts the increasingly common phenomenon of AIDS orphans who are being left to fend for themselves.
Other artists on the exhibition include Clive van den Berg, Berni Searle, Gideon Mendel and Brenton Maart.
Opens: July 20
Closes: September 15
Durban Art Gallery
2nd Floor City Hall, Smith Street, Durban
Tel: (031) 311 2262
Email: brownc@prcsu.durban.gov.za
