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first published in Mahala This was the third time I attended the Grahamstown National Arts Festival, now as a fourth year student at Rhodes University. The role that the festival plays for the town has become increasingly apparent as my own interests and work have...
ANC Today article says cheap offensive smut peddled as art doesn't add anything to advance civic liberties ENOUGH AND NO MORE! The artist, the gallery and the City Press editor "... propaganda in some form or other lurks in every book, that every work of art has a...
Mzukisi Makatse on freedom of artistic expression in South Africa The contextual and political understanding of the freedom of artistic expression in South Africa Now that the dust seems to be settling after the storm and hysteria occasioned by The Spear - Brett...
Eusebius McKaiser responds to The Spear's virtual death An open letter to Ferial Haffajee: A response to The Spear's virtual death Dear Ferial, You are obviously one of the country's most respected editors and perhaps even, as Peter Bruce, editor of Business Day,...
In his book Art and The End of Apartheid, John Peffer writes about the Medu Art Ensemble: “For them a true culture of the people would be one that was not exclusive to the elite of the world of art galleries, but was seen in the streets, on T-shirts and posters (…).”...
Jackson Mthembu questions why black, not white, defacer of painting was assaulted by security guard ANC WELCOMES THE SOUTH GAUTENG HIGH COURT DECISION TO HAVE A FULL BENCH OF JUDGES TO HEAR THE ANC AND PRESIDENT ZUMA'S URGENT APPLICATION REGARDING THE OFFENSIVE...
How far can artists go in satirising or sending up the powerful? That is the essence of the brouhaha over Brett Murray’s contentious The Spear painting depicting President Jacob Zuma with his genitals exposed in a pose reminiscent of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin....
Brett Murray's The Spear, a picture of President Jacob Zuma with his genitals exposed, mimics the pose of the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in a Soviet-era propaganda poster. Politicians, whenever they are exposed for having said something offensive, often...
The M&G in collaboration with Oresego Holdings debated the limits of freedom of expression, bringing together analysts, artists and academics. “We can’t see an African man with his clothes off but at the same time every 10 seconds in this country a woman is...