I’m sure some of you have heard of ‘The Spear’ painting, the painting
that has become the talk of the town (or I should say, talk of the country) in
recent weeks here in South Africa. Brett Murray has just exhibited a new collection
of his work, one in particular that has sparked a huge amount of controversy
across the country.
In ‘The Spear’ President Jacob Zuma has been depicted partially naked
with his, erm, gentleman’s bits, on full show. Of course Murray didn’t actually
paint Zuma from life but regardless, it is all people are talking about. Murray
has been deemed a ‘racist’ for his work and is believed to have painted Zuma in
a negative, derogative and destructive light. In some people’s eyes, Murray is
discriminating against black people, perhaps against the Zulus by exposing the
president this way. People are claiming that the reason behind the work is the
artist’s way of highlighting Zuma as the egotistic, sexually dominant man that
he believes him to be.
If you want my opinion, I think it’s all a load of bollocks. I mean
come on, do people not have anything better to talk about and worry about? Personally,
I think what Murray did was undeniably controversial and perhaps slightly precarious,
but in my mind he should not be receiving the treatment that he is. Fine, take
the wretched picture down but why bother wasting time, money and effort in
court, all over what, at the end of the day is really simply a little artistic license
gone wrong?
Who knows what Murray was thinking when he painted the picture;
yes maybe he does dislike Zuma (as we know a lot of people do), but hey, the
president is not exactly giving people a reason to think otherwise at times. It’s
not exactly hot news that the president has been known to visit prostitutes, despite
having 8 wives and 20 something children. It’s this the man who said that it
was OK that he slept with a HIV positive prostitute because he could simply ‘take
a shower’ afterwards to prevent him catching the disease? It’s no secret that
the ANC are doing quite a botch job of running a country that could be
magnificent.
Let’s face it, it’s not because Zuma is black and the painter is
white. It is not racism. It is a controversial painting from a man who perhaps
was undertaking protest art in some form. Why are people allowed verbally
express their opinions on Zuma and criticise him in articles but when someone
depicts these faults through art, it is suddenly a crime. What is more, if it
was the other way around, believe me, there would not be such media coverage of
the story; a black man or woman can say whatever the hell they want about white
people in this country because the whites have ‘oppressed’ them for so long. I don’t
mean to sound negative, but I feel that if
the same level of attention was given to the real problems this country
faces (crime, education, poverty springs to mind), then South Africa would be
coming along far better than it is.
Despite these negatives, 2 clear positives have come out of this
whole debacle. Murray has received a huge amount of publicity which will
ultimately boost his career (quite clever if you ask me) and Zuma’s willy looks
big. It blatantly isn't that size in real life is it?
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