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I can't be a singular expression of myself
There's too many parts, too many spaces
Too many manifestations, too many lines
Too many curves, too many troubles
Too many journeys, too many mountains
Too many rivers, so many…
-Solange Knowles, Can I Hold the Mic (Interlude)
These lyrics by artist Solange came to mind when I sat down with multidisciplinary artist and creative Thuthukani Myeza to talk about his solo exhibition currently running at the AVA Gallery entitled How to be black for beginners. As a writer, poet, curator, and multimedia artist Thuthukani shows himself (and in his art) clearly not to be “a singular expression of self”. He admits he is wary of identifying himself as an artist, partly due to a slight imposter syndrome, but it may also be because he works in such varying fields. A common thread that runs through all his work is his desire to position himself as a truth speaker no matter the medium, and to function as, what he terms a “visual historian”.
Engaging with Black histories drives this exhibition. Myeza does so with full force, creating enticing, and at times jarring collages and video work. When he began doing collage in 2020 as the pandemic took over our lives, he wanted to find a way of dealing with a traumatic experience. Collage became this gateway, activating a “visual therapy session,” he says.
“I was so afraid I could never create anything beautiful again,” he admits. This fear was warranted, as the pandemic engendered uncertainty and, for some, a life of purgatory. Through the medium of collage Myeza set out to cut, reconfigure, place and play with an archive he felt was still in the control of the oppressors who generated them.
As you walk the L-shaped mezzanine gallery of AVA, one work after the other boasts layers of different imagery, imagery embedded in imagery. The works can hold your gaze for a long period if you’re willing to decode and detangle all the meanings. A key archive referenced in most of the works is the headline covers of The Bantu World. The newspaper was founded in 1935 by Bertram Paver, with the editing and journalism of Black writers, thinkers and activists, with the aim of informing and educating the public about the plight of Black people. In the work Ibuya nini IAfrica Myeza positions an elderly black woman in the centre of the frame. An image of a man holding a newspaper appears on either side of her. The manner the ugogo (grandmother) is clutching her purse, implies she is waiting to move or for instruction. This takes you right back to the title, but truly “when will Africa be returned?” A crowd of people watches her with their thumbs up (an action utilised in the 1952 Defiance campaign as a sign of unity). Framing all of this is a headline from The Bantu World: “Our Strength Lies in the Land”.
This collage work is incredibly captivating as it represents the black individual and the collective. When I asked Myeza why the eyes of all his subjects are covered he answered: “I have a thing. Don’t show the eyes of my subjects because it’s a window to the soul.” This act of protection also speaks volumes about the care he shows in engaging with imagery that depicts Black bodies in oppressive situations. Myeza draws attention to how visual languages play a central role in the representation of our lives or histories. Bell hooks in her seminal book Art on My Mind calls for “oppositional aesthetics” that combat the normative construction of how the oppressor has perceived and represented the oppressed. Here Myeza explores how we can take these archives and re–articulate them to generate a sense of empowerment. He does this by telling his own stories and speaking or seeking ‘the truth’ on his own terms.
Myeza made a striking comment: “At any given moment I am looking at someone’s ancestor on my computer”. This passing comment reiterated the awareness he carries when engaging with a problematic archive.
“I got into collage because all I ever saw were white (owned and produced) archives and I thought the material looked so beautiful because it was these distilled memories. Working with this imagery for me is truly about working with memories. The greatest part of the journey has been discovering that our history is still owned by the people who captured it.” His positioning while engaging the Black archive then becomes a point of the reclamation of memories. However, violent imagery is unavoidable and is difficult to mediate.
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