kagablog

A naked man hangs suspended from the ceiling of a stage, upside down. A backdrop of shifting images is projected behind him. These images are sourced live from the Internet and include horrifying footage of the current war in the Middle East. The manipulator of these images is a newspaper copy editor (present on stage in front of her computer), cutting and pasting for what could be an edition of a newspaper you are currently reading.

Probably the most ‘current’ art available on our stages, Catherine Henegan and Aryan Kaganof’s The Shooting Gallery is a searing work about many issues. Ostensibly about the “Bang Bang Club”, that band of war photographers, specifically Kevin Carter, the work is about a great deal else as well. It delves deeply into the issues of reporting, of re-presenting reality, journalism and art. Of cutting and pasting horror and pain. Of accessing and presenting images. Of communicating (or not) too much reality or too little. Of our inability or lack of will to act in the face of injustice. Ultimately of responsibility and compassion. It is an astounding work in its courage and ability to get to the core of some of the most salient issues we face today.

Because it is a great time to make art. It’s a crude, even brutal assertion, but it is. It may be that more difficult to get the means to produce it but there is no lack of subject. Very few of us have been able to find words to express the tragedy that is happening in the Middle East at this moment. It is more like an inarticulate scream of rage. That something so brutal, so obviously unjust can be taking place at this time can only produce a silent scream. When the most powerful of nations dither and fiddle while innocent lives are lost, how is it possible to contain and articulate a response?

And closer to home, what of the excessively, increasing violent crime? It would seem that the only way we can touch each other is if we hurt each other. How does one formulate a response? It is bewildering and difficult to digest.

And yet it would seem that our response as a nation is ultimately to numb ourselves. Signs of escapism in our society are so patently present at this time. Just recently even President Mbeki has fore grounded as a burning national malady the rampant materialism, a growing consumerism most of it on the very available credit facility offered by financial institutions. And the economists are despairing. There is too much credit they say. Yes those increasingly long queues at Woolworth’s and Edgars are built on candy floss money. Is this a manifestation of our need to escape the realities of pressing issues into mind numbing, rampant spending?

But there is a moment in a theatrical event such as The Shooting Gallery when art and reality meet. And for those moments at least confrontation of that reality helps to ease the burden of denial. It clears the head. It makes it possible to make some sense and move on. At the very least it inspires recognition of brutality and how we cope with it.

Some such moments are available in Mlu Zondi’s work, Silhouette, to be staged at the Jomba! Dance Festival at the Sneddon this month. Look out for it. And this year’s Festival with works from various parts of Africa as well as some of our finest new voices promise to turn those bewildering, intangible questions into something we can hear and touch and feel.

So the next time you have a mind numbing urge to go increase your credit, check out some art. Some real art. Art that won’t numb you. It may just place the world more in perspective. And hopefully get to the root of our need to escape and give form to that inarticulate scream.

Natal Mercury Column 13: by Jay Pather