Response to Veronique Tadjo
by Taryn Cohn
As organisers of Sasol's Wax in Art competition it is very gratifying to have artists level praise and criticism in the heat of a moment, and then demonstrate the follow through by committing their ideas to a public forum. Input such as Veronique Tadjo's recent article (see: NEWS) is important to the development process of the event I am organising, as it is to the progress of arts in this country too. Tadjo's honesty and commitment is appreciated.
I would however like to raise two fundamental points in response to her article. Firstly, the work that was viewed when the author was collecting her entry was the result of the selection process at only one of the three preliminary regional selections. Her review of the competition is thus based on less than half of the selected works for the final show, which is due to be opened to the public in August, (during the Sasolburg WAM! Festival August 29 - 31).
Secondly, the works installed for judging at the Spark Gallery were displayed with an entry number only. There was no indication of the race, sex, religion or creed of the entrants. In fact, the names of the artists who entered works were not even provided to the judges. The venue was also closed to the public. To thus make commentary on the whole of the competition based on a brief experience encountered while collecting work seems premature, particularly given the critical angle chosen by Tadjo.
Tadjo goes on to ask a question: "But what has this got to do with black South African contemporary arts?" The answer is very little. The competition was open to all South African resident artists wishing to enter. The competition is intended to celebrate art in South Africa, more specifically wax art - not "black art".
The use of the phrase "black South African artists" implies that some distinction needs to be made between black South African artists and 'other' entrants. To make a point of searching out and selecting black South African artists from among the entrants, particularly 'township artists', as a genre or category for special selection, would undermine both the artists and the event.
A particular point was made to inform members of marginalized arts communities, through personal contact with artists and teachers who were able to relay this information to others. Since early March, the organisers have received hundreds of enquiries about the competition. Response from others in the arts industry indicates that the information was widely accessible and visible.
In terms of assisting those who had transport and access problems, the organisers did more than could be expected, from personally collecting work from community centres, to keeping the venue open hours after the advertised time. However, at some point the artists need to take responsibility and be pro-active themselves. The Gauteng leg of the event may indeed have demonstrated a less than accurate reflection in the sector activity Tadjo's terms black art.
One non sequitur: As far as Tadjo's question regarding whether black South African artists really want to make conceptual art, simply look to the work of Tracy Rose, Moshekwa Lange and Sandile Zulu.
Taryn Cohn is the competition co-ordinator of the Sasol Wax in Art competition.
