O n Sunday 6th June I went to the opening of Andrew Lamprecht’s sculpture exhibition at the Nirox Sculpture Foundation out on the Kromdraai Rd in the Cradle. The Nirox grounds are quite beautiful – a magnificent park designed by the well-known landscape architect Patrick Watson whose most famous creation is the Sun City gardens.   This exhibition is open until the 15th August  (Wednesday to Sunday) so don’t miss the opportunity to see the exquisite grounds as well as the very impressive site-specific sculpture on show. Now that the big chill has passed, it’s a wonderful place to take a blanket, a picnic hamper and chill out on a sunny Highveld day.   It can easily be combined with a visit to the Rhino and Lion Park just down the road.
One of the activities at the opening was a performance by Samson Mudzunga, an artist born in Venda in 1938. Venda is the most northern province on South Africa, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, as well as an ethnic group with very strong cultural traditions. It is these cultural practices that Mudzunga manipulates and works with in his public performances in an art context.  Typically Mudzunga uses a large drum which he has sculpted and which echoes the drums used in various different Venda ritual contexts. In the performance at Nirox, the drum was shaped like a giant oval seed-pod but with its schematic face it seemed to infer a fish.   This symbolism would make sense given the proximity to water of the performance at Nirox, and given the importance of the symbol of Lake Funduzi in Mudzunga’s work.  Lake Fundudzi, the Lake of Creation and the only natural lake in South Africa, is very significant in Venda mythology.  The performance at Nirox took place on a ‘natural stage’ with a stream flowing in front and the backdrop of a hillock behind the performers. The audience sat on a grassy bank on the other side of the stream.  
Once the large heavy drum had been manouevred and wheeled into place, 15 young girls dressed in skirts of Salempore cloth, danced in a snaking line from the left across the performance area, to the beat of 4 drums and the call of a man blowing a kudu horn. While this was taking place Samson, dressed in T shirt and trousers, climbed into the drum through a small ‘door’ in the side of the drum. In his previous performances, this process has symbolized ‘burial’.      

 The girls ended their dance routine to lie in positions of supplication, face down, with arms outstretched and hands folded, palms facing upwards. Heralded by the drummers and the kudu horn, and ushered out by a large woman and a young girl, Samson climbed out of the drum.   

Now wearing suit and tie, this part of the performance indicates a moment of transformation or ‘resurrection’.    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Energetic celebratory dancing now followed from the group of young women and girls with different people taking the lead.   Then the young women took off their T shirts and bare breasted, the performance turned into an imitation of the Domba dance or python dance.         The Domba is the context in which young women of marriageable age are educated about their future roles as wives and mothers. So traditionally the python dance would only be performed in front of initiated men and women. While photographs of the traditional Domba are in circulation in academic books and journals, I felt very uncomfortable for the young, almost certainly urban women, disrobing and performing in front of clearly ‘uninitiated’ men, boys and women in an urban and leisure context.

 My discomfort increased as I watched 2 adolescent boys with cell phone cameras focused continuously on the young bare breasted dancing women.  From a private, controlled and educative initiation ritual, aspects of the Domba had now not only become a public spectacle but a theatrical event which could be spread indiscriminately via social media such as Facebook, Mixit and blog sites. The accompanying photos in this post are but one example of this – albeit that the image posted here of the bare-breasted girls and young women, deliberately does not show their faces. 
So whilst I was pleased to have finally seen one of Madzungu’s performance-events, I remain very ambivalent around the issues of spectacle, voyeurism, and the way in which social media increase indiscriminate spread of, and so access to, information. 

The Market Theatre will be presenting ‘House of the Holy Afro’, Brett Bailey’s eclectic mish-mash of shamanistic ritual and gospel set to a thumping beat.   ‘People’s poet’ Mzwakhe Mbuli will be in action at Xarra Books, as will Phillippa de Villiers, Masoja Msiza, Myesha Jenkins, Boikanyo and many more.  The Market Photo Workshop, Museum Africa, the Workers’ Museum and the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre will host a number of art and photography exhibitions, many of which deal with the theme of soccer.   A selection of the continent’s best cinematic offerings will be screened during the 4th annual Africa on Screen Film Festival at Museum Africa.

Visit www.newtown.co.za for more details of performances and eve

The artist describes her installation:  ‘ In the gallery installation, the six large- scale prints are hung  on one long wall (the narrative reading from left to right) invoking a sense of an army barrakcs, or a dormitory or a hospitalward. Placed underneath each of the six prints is a bed which could also be read as an altar or operating table. Over each of these beds is an altar cloth. On the ‘altar’ lies a mirror image, or shadow of the sleeping child [depicted in the print on the wall above the 'altar'] This embodied shadow is made from plastic toy soldiers, mass manufacture in China, Whil making these shadow boys, I often had to chop off the arms and the legs of these toy soldiers to make them fit into the shape on which I was working. This action seemed to  in many ways imitate the world of real violence of war and positions me in a complex relationship as an artist creating metaphorical images of sacrifice, while addressing the real fears of a mother for her son.’

It is a powerful moving exhibition which is conceptually coherent and shows superb technical skill. Don’t miss it. 

When one imagines the art capitals of the world, Johannesburg doesn’t come to mind. This isn’t for lack of talent, but for lack of exposure. Fortunately, this situation is about to change thanks to a new initiative called Afro Centric Joburg City Art Tours.  These cleverly compiled art tours provide a safe and convenient way in which to explore the vibrant galleries and artistic areas that can be found in the city. The tours also specifically target less conventional galleries in Johannesburg with the aim of showcasing and promoting contemporary art. Touring as a group creates an atmosphere for discussion and engagement with the exhibitions. Afro Centric Joburg City Art Tours run weekly, and evening and weekend tours can be booked in advance. Where possible, walkabouts with artists can also be arranged. Tours run on Tuesdays, Thursdays and the last Saturday of every month, and includes lunch, wine and snacks.    More information:  afrocentricsa@gmail.com  www.afrocentricsa.co.za