TWENTY
- FOR THE AMBITIOUS AND CREATIVE
ISSUE 03/2017
3
AN UNCOMMON DIALOGUE
ED'S NOTE
TWENTY AN UNCOMMON DIALOGUE Issue #3
Editor : Landa Willie
Art direction & Design : Landa Willie Sibongile Mditshwa
Writers : Sisipho Sojola Inganathi Mnyasane Contributor : Meegan Mitchell Cover : Ayana V Jackson Image Courtesy of Ayana Jackson & Gallery Momo
When it's time to sit down and write this note, it's really an amazing feeling mostly because we have put so much of ourselves in this issue, and every other issue and it's been an absolute phenomenal issue to create and curate; also because we get to rest for about a week before we start working on the next issue! Reflecting on the 1st issue and looking at the growth and lessons that are evident in the 3rd issue, it's kinda hard not to get emotional. I think I speak for the whole team when I say that TWENTY for all of us has become such a personal journey; almost impossible to explain in 250 words. We have shared our hearts and stories with every single person that reads TWENTY and it has been such an honour to have all the artists from all previous issues and this one share theirs with us. On the note of sharing stories, in this issue we have phenomenal artists such as Ayana V Jackson, Sizakele Phohleli, Kenrick McFalane and so many more who share their most intimate stories, messages, art work, etc with us. We knew we wanted this issue to be themed AN UNCOMMON DIALOGUE and it’s amazing how everyone has translated the theme. We hope you treasure this issue as much as we have putting it together.
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Landa Willie Editor in Chief TWENTY|6 Twenty
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AN UNCOMMON DIALOGUE WITH AYANA V JACKSON By Sisipho Sojola
IMAGE COURTESY OF AYANA V JACKSON & GALLERY MOMO
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17 A place called home
Belgian-Ivorian photographer Raymond Dakoua explores LGBT realities in Mozambique and Ivory Coast.
26 Kenrick McFarlane Meet Kenrick McFarlane , a Jamaican American visual artist from Chicago, Illinois. Fascinated by the European painting tradition and it’s influence on contemporary culture.
12 Letters to Cinnamon An uncommon dialogue with Sizakele Phohleli, author of Letters to Cinnamon.
08 An uncommon dialogue with Ayana V Jackson
Sisipho Sodge chats with Ayana about her work, views and white cubes. Twenty Magazine |5
Ayana V Jackson Photographer . Filmmaker . Visual Artist . By Sisipho Sojola
Amehlo awaphakelani - every single person’s perception is unique to their experience, and as I walked into the embrace of the cold clean walls of that gallery, I saw her bare breasted and hung upon those walls. My perception had changed that day, my craving to gain a different experience from First Thursday was achieved. I saw her. Ayana. What an experience it must be to watch yourself as others watch you, as others probe you, as others dissect months of shedding yourself, of healing yourself to only compress your pain into one word. What were you thinking? Twenty Magazine | 8
To be really honest, I don’t know. The first set of nudes that I made it’s kind of strange (that) I didn’t really think it through, if I can say that. I knew that I wanted to do this poverty pornography project my solution was to create the work in that way. It was really bizarre because it wasn’t until it was actually on the wall in the gallery that I had realised what I done and that I was really exposing myself.
I remember the first time I was kind of anonymously standing behind people while they were talking about my work. They didn’t realise that I was standing behind them listening and they were talking about my stretch marks. I didn’t realise I had stretch marks until that point so I was like “wait what?”. I waited for them to walk away but I kind of looked into the photograph and I was like “oh damn, I do have stretch marks” I did not notice them before.People are definitely mirrors then, they notice things about us that we can go through our whole life not seeing.
If you were to be in a room with me, I talk about the women in the photograph as if they are not me. There is a certain amount of detachment that I instinctively have.
The process that comes before that moment of showcasing is important The point where I begin to shoot – I definitely kick everybody out because it’s a personal project and my process is quite personal and I mean I’m a bit camera shy so it’s hard for me to have another photographer in the room or even to have someone watching me as I’m doing it, it’s more of a playing in the mirror with the bathroom door closed, than it is a show.
The white cube is an interesting space. The exhibition that I’m doing at Gallery Momo in Cape Town is about disrupting the white cube with the presence of blackness.
Disconnected. We protest about the disconnection between black people in Fine Art and how we aren’t welcomed in that space. We complain about this space. Yet we yearn to enter and penetrate the opportunities it brings. We speak of this space, but do we really know it?
Historically there has been a relationship between the Black artist and the White Cube, but somewhat more prominently would be the Harlem Renaissance. We’ve been there – we’ve fought for our space within it, and so I think the tradition of continuing to interact with the white cube is honourable. Part of my activism is definitely to try to transform that space to make it more inclusive for myself and others. I remember when I had the show in February; the thing that was not just humbling but also shocking was the number of young black artists who thanked me for having that show there and it was shocking to me how much they felt excluded from that space, not just as artists but also in terms of our narrative.
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We need to be represented. We cannot let others tell our story as their own. But sometimes our pursuit of getting our narratives recognised leads us to selling ourselves out to the highest bidder. Are we selling out the same stories that we’re supposed to be honouring? That’s the question I’m asking with “Selling the Shadow”, the show that I’m busy with right now. I’ve spoken to a lot of artists about what it means to commodify our world, our cultural capital. To take this work; that in a lot of cases is related to social injustice or our own political activism and package it for consumption. First of all, we need to eat! Galleries’ dedication towards cultivating the black collectives is part of my way of being okay with the decision to commodify such political work. Healing. The fact that we live in a racialised society has created a lot of trauma, obviously the primary victim of that trauma would be the Black/non-White because of the trauma of white supremacy, but I think also – in a place like South Africa it’s really apparent that you’re looking at a white community that’s kind of having to figure out who it is. The thing is that, this idea of white privilege was almost like a human right - it functioned almost as a human right for white people in this country. And so for them to have that challenge is also challenging their identity and sense of self, so in that sense they’re also kind of traumatised from the experience of racism and deserve a chance to also heal.
"If you were to be in a room with me, I talk about the women in the photograph as if they are not me. There is a certain amount of detachment that I instinctively have."
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Sizakele Phohleli Author of Letters to Cinnamon By Landa Willie
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"you are not God and they are not lost. stop trying to feed these women with the very prayers even you cannot recite without looking for rivers to dunk your soul into. stop trying to baptise them with the very streams that terrify you. mind yourself young john; you are barely strong enough to stare into the mirror without flinching. pray siza pray. save ‌ yourself ‌ first." -Letters to Cinnamon
Landa : You mentioned that you sleep quite early. When do you write? I always kinda thought Letters to Cinnamon was written in the wee hours of the morning or night.
Sizakele : A lot of people relate to Bitter [laughs]. Bitter has my darkest times. If you read the book you can tell that it sounds more personal than others.
Sizakele : I write whenever. I don't write at night and if I do it's not planned. I've written my most intimate pieces at 4pm in the afternoon. My most raw and open right in traffic.
Landa : It gets quite soft towards the end and one starts to reminisce about loving and the beauty of having been loved.
Landa : Jumping straight into the questions we've set up. What does love mean to you? Sizakele : Love for me means God. It means open. It means acceptance. It means celebrated vulnerability. It means coming home to all that matters to you, yourself included. It means falling apart only to be born again. For me love is the face of someone, including mine which chooses you.The face of someone who picks you in light of your dark times like you are worthy and without flaw. Like all these second chances were designed just for you. Landa : Letters to Cinnamon. The women/woman you write about and the experiences are quite intense, chaotic, painful and strangely beautiful. Were you writing mostly about your own experiences or those of people you know? Sizakele : 40 percent of the things I write are me. The remainder are experiences of my friends, my family and everybody close to me. Even if I write about someone else's experience, I write as if it is mine. It's easy for me to assume a different personality. I can be at my happiest, I can be at wedding but still write about a funeral. I am able to clothe myself in whatever subject or faculty I choose to write about. Landa : Wow... I remember reading the first part of the book, Bitter; it sent shivers down my spine.
Sizakele : When we planned the book we wanted to start at the end and move towards the beginning. From Bitter to the honeymoon phase to Chilli where it's not good and it's not bad and you want to go but you don't really want to go. It's through the cleansing where you know ukuthi things are the way they are and you have done all that you could do to save whatever you thought was worthy of saving but could not be saved and it's okay. Landa : Are you in love now ? If not, are you open to love? Sizakele : I am such a lover! [laughs] I could never ever give up on love. Everyone I've been with knows how much of a lover I am. Right now I am not in love with anyone but love for me is always a possibility. I could never ever close myself up to love. Landa : [laughs] I kinda knew you'd say that. It's evident in the book how much of a lover you are. It's beautiful. … It’s quite interesting to find out how different people view life and whether they believe that they have a purpose in it. So Siza, what is it that you want in this world? What do you think your purpose is? Sizakele : I want to love, to love myself, which is something I'm only learning to do now. Twenty Magazine | 13
The past 27 years of my life I spent trying to fix myself, complaining about myself and hating parts of me that had no business hating. With my blog @Her Mentality, that is what I want to do; that’s what I aspire to do and hope to achieve. I get feedback from people saying that they are learning to love themselves. Honestly speaking, if that is all I get to do in this life, that’s enough. I don’t want people to go through the same self-doubt and self-hate I went through for a very long time. At the end of it all you only have yourself , so you either build this house or you break it. I'm doing things that build me. I am doing things that show myself that I love myself. Maybe, I may not know know how to say it to myself, but I want to do things that shows Usiza that I love Usiza. Landa : When it comes to self-love and self-affirmation, I think, for a lot of people it’s really hard (myself included) not to only get to that point but to stay there. I mean is it something you tell and remind yourself about every day? Sizakele : The thing about unlearning and becoming is that there must be someone that tells you that you are okay as you are. Now, what happens when the people who were supposed to tell you that you are okay as you are also need to be told that? You can’t teach a subject you have no knowledge of. That’s the thing about being raised by our black mothers who have barely experienced love, who were never told that they are beautiful. The teacher must first believe (and have knowledge) in whatever they want to teach you about. It took a whole lot of falling apart to get to where I am and I still fall apart as often as I don't. The things I write about and the motivations are mostly for me. Twenty Magazine | 14
Those are how I mend myself. How I speak myself to life. Those long captions I have on my page and blog are conversations with myself. They are prayers of forgiveness to myself. I haven't figured everything out but I am learning and unlearning and learning all the time. In a nutshell I am a teacher who is a student. I am constantly teaching myself. Landa : I think so many times as kids we actually become the teachers and our mothers the students. So many times we have to carve the way and they learn from us. It reminds me of my relationship with my mom. It's all a journey. We are all students and teachers at the same time. Letters to Cinnamon has become a bible to Queer people. I've seen how people have responded to it. Tell me how the response has been and how you feel about it. Sizakele : Wow. The response we got on Cinnamon is beyond us. My business partner, Bontle Mohlahlane and I have put a lot in this book. We did not see this coming. It's been God throughout. It's been beautiful. The response has been remarkable. I think that this is what happens when you write stories that people can relate to and when you are vulnerable and raw with your work. For a self published book Cinnamon has done so well. Cinnamon has become a love anthem to so many people. It's overwhelming and beautiful. Landa : I love how you say that Cinnamon has become a love anthem to a lot of people. It's quite remarkable. Next question. What has your experience of being a Black and Queer Woman in South Africa been like?
Landa : People will always hate and denounce what they don't understand. My friend Zipho once said to me that I am not theirs to understand - I am an acquired taste. Sizakele : People hate difference more than they hate sameness. Sameness is safe. Difference threatens them somehow.
Sizakele : Being black in SA on its own is already a disadvantage. Being woman in South Africa is another disadvantage, so over and above the fact that I am black and I am woman, I am gay. It's like a recipe for failure. We live in a country that does not really recognise gays and lesbians. There is a lot of education that is still necessary and people will always be intimidated by things that are different to them. People will bash everything that they don't know or understand only because is clashes with their norms and culture and it goes against what they have been breastfed, so out of fear or discomfort they will retaliate. I mean in their heads and way of thinking how else are they to protect their prized norms and culture without killing that which threatens them?
"A black woman is unconquerable. There is no bone in her designed to fall and not rise. Absolutely no bone in her created with only one life."
Landa : The resilience of the black woman is something that struck me in awe every single time. You mention all the factors that are recipes for failure yet you see the black woman constantly picking herself up and growing like seeds after just being buried. It's fucking amazing. Sizakele : A black woman is unconquerable. There is no bone in her designed to fall and not rise. Absolutely no bone in her created with only one life.
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Travis Matthew | New York
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Raymond Dakoua Photographer .
By Inganathi Mnyasane . 1) What is the connection, if there is any, between the passing of laws concerning the LGBTI community and how they live their everyday lives? The laws protect them a little bit. But when there are no laws to protect them, they are vulnerable. Many of them hide their homosexuality. People must therefore play on several indices to express their identities, in particular through more or less assertive hidden body and dress codes. 2) You mentioned to the SABC that most of the LGBTI refugees you met in Brussels that inspired you to do your latest body of work were from Uganda, did you not consider exploring the topic there? It was my choice to start my work in Côte d'Ivoire which is my country of birth, to see how things go for the LGTB community there. After [that] I chose Mozambique because I wanted to continue my work in another country with a similar situation for the LGTB community. 3) In Africa, compared to the western world, do you think that we lack the humanitarian ingredient? I don’t think Africa lacks the humanitarian ingredient, but we have to acknowledge that our history and traditions are different.
4) With this exhibition what feeling do you want to impart on the viewer? What hidden knowledge do you wish to share? I would like to point out that I have realised, through this project, that homosexuality [did not only recently appear] in Africa. It is the visibility of homosexuals and the public debate around it that is a new. This is because more and more homosexuals want to come out and live their life openly without having to claim anything. 5) You grew up in Côte d'Ivoire yet you were only touched by the injustice experienced by the LBGTI community when you were in Brussels; is the LBGTI presence in Côte d'Ivoire discreet or taboo? Photography is very recent for me; I have starting taken interest in the genre only in 2014. But what I can tell you is that homosexuality is a taboo subject/ unspoken of in Africa and even in other parts of the world! In Africa, sex and sexuality are discussed about in secret spaces, obeying specific rules. Being homosexual, represents a transgression of the norm, an exclusion from the family or social circle, a negation of self as similar to others. Starting from this, building a gender identity different from the norm becomes an impossible mission. 6) In your work, besides sexuality, what other topics have you touched on or explored? This body of work, called’ a place called home’ is not about sexuality but rather about LGTB community fighting for recognition in two different countries. 7) Do you have a place to call your own? I feel happier in a free world…that’s where I would like to belong. Twenty Magazine | 17
A place called home by Raymond Dakoua
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Travis Matthew | New York
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Pretty Young Thing (PYT) / 20 x 16 Inches / Oil on Canvas / 2016
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An Unlikely Hero / 76 x 102.5 Inches / Oil on Canvas / 2014
Kenrick Mcfarlane Visual Artist & Painter
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Kenrick McFarlane (B.1990) is a Jamaican American visual artist from Chicago, Illinois. Fascinated by the European painting tradition and it’s influence on contemporary culture, McFarlane uses painting to explore and question the values and ethics that this long tradition projects, while at the same time questioning his identity and position as a painter within society. Kenrick received his Bachelors of Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and has participated in many exhibitions within the United States and abroad. In 2012 Kenrick was chosen by Kerry James Marshall to participate in an exhibition curated by Dawoud Bey in Expo Chicago. The show was called Eclectic Coherence and featuredKerry James Marshall and other established artists like Jessica Stockholder, and Barbara Kasten. Kenrick was also invited to participate in Theaster Gate’s first Rebuild Fellowship program held at the Stony Island Arts Bank in 2016. In 2017 Mcfarlane has been invited by Gallery MOMO to participate in their artist residency program. Kenrick is currently based in Johannesburg and preparing foran exhibition at Gallery MOMO Cape Town in April 2017
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Self Portrait 2016 / 30 x 24 Inches / Acrylic on Canvas / PHOTOGRAPHED 2016 BY IAN CASTANEDA Twenty Magazine | 27
"I asked everyone to tell me about their journey as a Queer person. Being able to photograph them and capture all of this into a still moment in a domestic setting, a safe and familiar space with them opening up and being vulnerable was very special to me" Â - Meegan Mitchell
Series by Meegan Mitchell
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