The last few weeks have been very busy hence the lack of a new blog post but good news is that I got my application in to Home Affairs so hopefully that will be approved. It does mean one less stress on my mind. The Kuyga junior youth group is going really well. We had 48 kids come to the last session and we got all our Afrikaans kids back so it is a mixed group again. We split the group up by age so the 10+11 years olds together, the 12+13 year olds together and the 14+ group is together. We still have two 8 year olds that we don’t know what to do with, they just sit and observe at the moment. The kids have called themselves the Rockstars and we even have our own song. So that’s my very brief update on things just to keep everyone informed what follows is my latest blog post...
Those that know me know I love the arts. I visit galleries constantly, I studied a degree in design, I did a life drawing class with Archibald prize winner David Fairban, my lecturers have exhibitions that tour internationally and one of my design works has even been published in a book. Although it doesn’t always come naturally to me I love the arts. Photography is my art style of choice, I prefer black and white film photography as it is all about the process. You control each moment from taking the picture to developing and it’s more hands on which is what I prefer. So in Sydney I know where all the art galleries are and not just the big name ones, all the smaller, less mainstream galleries as well. Even if Sydney isn’t considered the cultural capital of Australia it still has a lot of culture, it doesn’t matter what part of it you’re in you can always find something.
Naturally one of the first things I did when I came to Port Elizabeth was look for art galleries and art classes. Now keep in mind that the internet here isn’t what it is in Australia, you can’t just google search something and find all the information you need. I really struggled to find art galleries here. I figured that if I could just find one then that could lead me to any others. Luckily someone came into my life who unlocked the door of the arts in Port Elizabeth. Sicelo is a music student at NMMU (the university here) and he came along to one of our Baha’i Society meetings to help us with the musical event we are planning. We got talking and he invited me to what he called an open mic night at some cafe. I was like ‘this sounds cool, I want to go’ so Sicelo said he would pick me up and we could go together. OMG he completely didn’t do justice to this event, it was insane. The event is called the Basement Project and it happens at Coffee Cafe every second Thursday. It’s not really a cafe but more of a large room with some couches at the back. We got there and immediately I could tell that Sicelo is a regular because he had to say hello to like everyone there. We took a seat and the program got underway. It was open mic in the sense that anyone who wanted could come up and share whatever it was they wanted to share be it music, poetry, dance, art whatever. It wasn’t open mic in the sense that there was no microphone. The place packed out, people were sitting on the floor and lining the walls and there was no lack of talent either. I mean I was blown away by some of the stuff people were doing especially the poetry. Honestly there were people who performed who were so skilled with the written word that they could have started a rebellion if they wanted to. Absolutely amazing.
One thing I did notice was the political and racial tension in people’s expressions. Art is a form of true expression and it is a form of emotional release so when every single performer stood up and spoke about the injustice white man had served them, the corruption of this government, the power that the black people needed to reclaim you can see that this is what is bearing down on these people. At one point the program stopped and the floor was opened for a discussion on Heritage Day which was on the next day. Heritage Day or Braai Day is a public holiday dedicated to the remembrance and honour of South Africa’s heritage. The opening remarks went something like this “Heritage day is just a creation by the white man to make us think that they care about our past. Everyday should be heritage day, every day we should be honouring our past and bringing back our culture not the white man’s culture which has been forced on us.”
It was then that I realised I was the only ‘non-black’ person in the room.. So of course I put my hand up drew attention to myself. I asked if the people have accepted a new heritage since the end of Apartheid and Mandela’s election or is there still conflict and tension amongst the people? This discussion happened very early in the program, clearly my question was answered with the onslaught of performers that would follow but the answer I got was that no the only heritage that counts is the one that they had before white man. This country has a long way to go. There were some counter arguments, one guy said that the people had to create a new identity because the white people aren’t just going to disappear this is their home now too and there won’t be any progress if we keep the mentality that we want things to go back to the way they were before they came. He also put forward a very sensible question which was “Culture changes, would you really walk around town topless and just wearing a piece of cloth to cover your parts, is that really what you want back?”
So after the discussion the performances continued, it was both a wonderful and very dangerous atmosphere. Honestly by the end of that session if I didn’t have such a strong mind I could have easily started resenting white people as much as they did. These artists have such a strong and powerful way with words, the speak with emotion, what they say arouses the audience, it’s so easy to fall into what they are saying. One Rastafarian guy even stood up and said “White people in the room you better suck on your sour lemon because the black people are in charge now” I waited, knowing that I was the only person in the room that could be considered white, hoping he wouldn’t give me direct eye contact as if that statement was made just for me. Luckily he didn’t and I laughed along with everyone else. I managed to talk to a few people about their work and got some details. I hope to put up some transcripts of some of the poetry as it really is amazing stuff and if there’s one way you can see the pain of a nation you see it through its art.
I left the session inspired and uplifted. Not to hate white people just in case you were concerned. I mean I call myself a writer but the only poetry I’ve ever written has been for laughs, I write these odes when I got bored.. maybe I should share one with you one day. I was inspired to write proper poetry and when I say poetry I don’t mean that how now brown cow kind of stuff I mean like the stuff that later becomes rap music but before it gets all commercialised and turns into some idiot telling the world how many girls he gets and how much weed he smokes. I wanted to write a piece about South Africa and the racial tension but I think I’ll wait till I have a few more friends because I’m afraid I won’t come out unhurt if I do it now. For now I’ll just write about myself which is the only thing I have any authority on. I’ll put up a test piece when it’s done and then I’ll let you know how it goes once I’ve performed it.
So I finally have my artistic energy source and from it I know I’ll find so many others. I will put up any work that I get off other artists because it really deserves to be shared.
Ps this is one of my shortest blog posts in a while.. you can thank my killer headache for that
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