Artwork of Zuma in poor taste, says ANC
AYANDA Mabulu’s painting depicting President Jacob Zuma in a compromising position next to a naked woman was ultimately pornography and undermined the struggles of women in society, ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said yesterday.
He said that while the party supported satirists who critique it, the “inhuman” portrayal of the woman in the painting was insensitive in a country where rape and domestic abuse were rife.
“Whatever feelings he wants this pornography to portray are lost. He is undermining the power of art,” said Kodwa, adding that it was up to Mabulu to apologise.
“Art can be used to make a point but he is using art to gain public attention, which is wrong.”
Mabulu twice before used art to highlight the president’s involvement in scandals.
But this time, his painting of Zuma, titled Spear Down My Throat (The Pornography of
Power), appears to have caused the most controversy.
The artwork shows Zuma giggling and clutching a teddy bear behind his back, his penis in a woman’s throat. At the same time, the woman is being penetrated by a hyena in a Victorian suit and is also being milked into an urn with an ANC label. The trio are positioned in front of a carnival tent as bold red and beige stripes run across the image.
Yesterday, a defiant Mabulu refused to apologise, and instead explained the image. He said the woman represented the country and that nation was being turned into a “slut” at Zuma’s hands.
He vowed to continue using art to express his frustration.
Mabulu believed that the president had sold out his people.
“Those who find the painting offensive are the comfortable middle class, not the poor,” he said.
In a recent interview with online media organisation Culture Review, Mabulu was quoted as saying: “This young democracy of ours is being molested in many ways and raped continuously. I feel like our leaders have been turned into a lynch clan. We have been robbed out of what’s rightfully ours.”
Mabulu said the circus tent backdrop represented Parliament.