ARTISTS AND THE LAW
Durban gears up for the inaugural Artfluence Human Rights Festival
In 2017, a work titled #fuckwhitepeople created in 2016 by artist Dean Hutton was the subject of a lawsuit after it was displayed at an exhibition, “The Art of Disruptions”, at the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town. The case was brought to the courts by a fringe political party on charges of hate speech that magistrate Daniel Thulare dismissed.
Section 16 of the constitution guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of creativity. Thulare ruled that the poster, displaying the phrase “Fuck White People” in black and white capital letters, did not amount to hate speech and was not racist because it was “within the context of protest art”.
Hutton, a master’s student in fine art at the time, said the work was inspired by black intellectual thought and represented a demand for the “complete dismantling of the systems of power that keep white people racist”. He will be one of the featured artists at the inaugural Artfluence Human Rights Festival presented by the Centre for Creative Arts.
Hutton will be in dialogue with constitutional law expert professor Pierre de Vos. The two will be joined on a freedom of expression panel by filmmaker Hajooj Kuka, who works in the wartorn regions of Sudan training conflict-affected and marginalised communities through theatre of the oppressed and various film projects.
Kuka’s films have screened in more than 100 festivals worldwide, and he has received numerous awards. In 2020 he was one of five Sudanese artists jailed for two months and fined on charges of causing a public nuisance, in what some described as a crackdown on art and activism.
The Centre for Creative Arts issued a statement at the time condemning the arrest, stating that Kuka’s films are a condemnation of war and a tribute to the power of human transcendence — themes that run strongly in the values the Centre for Creative Arts.
Also on the panel is South African rapper, activist and spoken-word and hiphop artist Iain Ewok Robinson, who uses his art to galvanise people on a range of issues, partnering with civil organisations and drawing attention to their concerns and actions.
De Vos, the moderator, alongside his many other achievements, writes a blog on social and political issues from a constitutional law perspective.
The theme of the inaugural festival, which takes place at the University of KwaZuluNatal from May 5-8, is “Voices of Hope, Courage and Resilience”.
The panel discussion will screen on Wednesday May 5 at 5pm.
The festival is freely accessible and can be watched via www.facebook.com/ artfluencefest and www.youtube.com/ centreforcreativearts.
See artfluence.ukzn.ac.za for the full programme.