Controversy and censorship of lesbian artists in South Africa
Posted on | March 8, 2010 | 1 Comment
Zanele Muholi, Being (part 3 of triptych)
Female artists snubbed by Arts and Culture Minister Lulu Xingwana at an exhibition last year have called her response homophobic and unconstitutional, despite the minister’s protests to the contrary, the Mail & Guardian heard on Thursday.
The incident occurred in August last year at the debut of the Innovative Women exhibition in Johannesburg, but only came to light in the media this week. Xingwana stormed out of the exhibition before making a scheduled speech, apparently after seeing the work of artist and activist Zanele Muholi, depicting women together.
Muholi told the M&G that the move was a step backwards for the country. “In South Africa we fought racism,” she said. “Now we are fighting ongoing hate crimes.
“In South Africa, where we have corrective rapes and violence against lesbians happening in the townships, we have to be careful. When a minister, or someone in a position of power, makes homophobic comments, it could perpetuate hate crimes. You might be putting people at risk. This issue goes beyond art”.
Read the rest of the article at http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-03-05-xingwana-homophobic-claims-baseless-insulting
This has understandably generated a lot of articles. See also:
- MINISTER SLAMS ‘PORN’ EXHIBITION
- Arts minister in lesbian art photo furore
- Xingwana: But is it art?
- Civics Lesson
March 04, 2010 Edition 1THE Minister of Arts and Culture, Lulu Xingwana, needs to spend a little time refreshing her memory of the constitution.
In the Bill of Rights in Chapter Two, she will find the following: “The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.”
These words were clearly not at the top of the minister’s mind last August when she refused to open an art exhibition in Joburg aimed at celebrating the role of black South African women.
Xingwana had been due to speak at the opening of the exhibition, which was held on Constitution Hill and which coincided with National Women’s Day, but stormed out in protest at what she considered the “pornographic” and “immoral” nature of the work, which features black lesbian couples.
“Our mandate,” she proclaimed,” “is to promote social cohesion and nation-building. I left the exhibition because it expressed the very opposite of this.”
The minister was concerned that there were children present and that “children should not be exposed to some of the images on exhibit”, her spokeswoman said. “There were children there as young as three who could have been affected,” said the spokeswoman.
What rubbish is this? Why would South African children, many of whom are exposed daily not only to the images, but to the brutal reality, of violence, discrimination and misery, be “affected” by exposure to pictures of people who love each other?
And how can pictures of women embracing express “the very opposite” of social cohesion or nation-building? What sort of social cohesion does Xingwana strive for and what sort of a nation does she think she is called upon to build? Clearly not the nation of which Act 108 of 1996 is the founding document.
Xingwana is entitled to her private opinion about the work of artist Zanele Muholi. But, as a minister, she is bound to uphold the constitution.
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May 20th, 2010 @ 9:53 am
thanks for beautifull pics as a lesbian and a person this is soul feed