Get off your high horse
2010-07-18 13:00
It is hard to be an artist sometimes. If you are involved in
theatre, poetry and literature or dance, you are expected to adhere to an arty,
intellectual image that sometimes comes off as unnatural.
You have to have a cause that consumes you like feminism, racism
and the like, and be all about pursuits that are deemed appropriate by an elite
few.
Aspiring to a suburban lifestyle and loving action films that
require no thought are among the many trivialities that can diminish your
authenticity in these circles.
I have hung out with artists who feel one is selling out if they
live in particular areas.
I have spent time with vegetarian poets who consider
television an “idiot box” that brainwashes people, and sport as an overly
aggressive activity that creates conflict.
I have interacted with artists who consider themselves outside
society, quote Frantz Fanon incessantly and look down on everyone else for not
being “conscious” or “intellectual” enough.
These are the martyrs and I blame them for the lack of enthusiasm
and support for some really great art that is created every day.
In a way, many art forms suffer from a lack of effective branding
and promotion.
A brand is what others say it is, whether it is that or not. The
image created excludes the majority of society then we wonder why there is no
support.
The artist looks at the businessperson and sees a “money hungry
exploiter” or “a soulless corporate stooge” and is then surprised when there is
no funding.
In Johannesburg, the Market Theatre is an amazing piece of history
that continues to host top quality productions that are relevant to our
society, yet the pantomime at the Joburg Theatre will sell out every
year.
Sometimes we want to be entertained.
We want to be able to
experience without being made to feel inadequate about what we know.
We want to
be able to learn without being preached to.
We are all human, regardless of what we do to survive and thrive in
this world.
We are moved by love, laughter, pain, joy and sorrow, and don’t
like being told how to do it and that we are incapable of understanding
it.
- City Press