LGBTQI+ issues hang on the wall
THE Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Mocca) officially opened its new Curatorial Lab to create awareness about the rights of LGBTQI+ communities.
The new space was opened by human rights ambassador of the Netherlands Kees van Baar.
A new exhibition by LGBTQI+ artist Banele Khoza, whose work Note Making emphasised the preservation of human rights, was among those celebrated last Wednesday.
Khoza’s exhibition forms part of the lab’s ongoing partnership with the consulate general of the Netherlands, which investigates the representation of the LGBTQI+ community in an attempt to preserve human rights based on the constitution and within the context of homophobia and the current oppression of LGBTQI+ rights in South Africa.
The project strives to promote inter-cultural understanding of a community excluded from society’s predominantly hetero-normative culture and discourse, promotes education through the arts and develops critical thinking about gender and sexuality.
Khoza’s abstract and figurative paintings depict colourful portraits of the male nude represented through obscure ghostly figures in palettes of mostly pink and blue.
His work has been curated by AKO Foundation assistant curator of special projects Sakhisizwe Gcina, the Curatorial Lab and Zeitz Mocaa, who said: “Romantic and dreamlike, Khoza’s portraits allude to fantasies of sensual desire contrasted with a feeling of vulnerability and incompleteness.
The paintings compel us to consider the subconscious wishes of the solitary figures and their imaginative foray into homo-erotic relationships as they are formed and destroyed.
“There is an embrace of sexual liberation and disruption of traditional gender binary constructs through nuanced effeminate depictions.”
Van Baar shared his enthusiasm, saying it was uplifting to meet with South Africans to see how to promote human rights worldwide.
Executive director and chief curator at Zeitz Mocaa Mark Coetzee said: “The goal of the exhibition was to establish dialogue and respect for human rights, regardless of gender, creed or sexual orientation.” – Staff Writer