The politics behind our Zeitz MOCAA Social Practice and performance production and the storyline it currently tells have raised questions about the way that this story will be written as well as how much of a say Africans really have in the discourse around African Art.
“I wanted to overturn the concept that blacks were always represented as victims. I want to deconstruct stereotypes. I want the stereotypical representations of women turning upside down, for their empowerment.”
Mayas’ “Big ghosts in a cloud”, her “loud, barking dogs” and the hair-pulling, teasing school-girls that she speaks of are represented by Jean-Michel’s crude ‘scribbles’: the message is clear and simple. It is a tough world out there but no one should shy away from it.
To this end, the one thing all 150 pieces in the exhibition have in common is the unwavering belief that somehow their existence would bring black people out of the cultural, political and social quagmire they were trapped in, and in doing so move them closer to the promise of equality.
What I have seen now is a couple of bad exhibitions (the reginal presentations and the Pop-Up show), but more importantly, a number of solid, interesting and sometimes great exhibitions. They showed works that were invisible for many years, they showed new works of promising artists, they showed a fruitful mixture of young and old, they made comparisons possible with artists from the region, on the whole they created an inspiring picture of the Caribbean.