THEME 3
SOCIO-POLITICAL ART – INCLUDING RESISTANCE ART OF THE 70’s and 80’s
INTRODUCTION – ART AND POLITICS
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Art was used as propaganda to enforce a ruler or political system
Propaganda is information of a biased or misleading nature used to promote a particular political cause or point of
view
Art can also be a powerful weapon to show opposition to political systems – therefore it is important function as a
form of social protest within societies
SOCIAL REALISM
Committed to left- wing ideas during a politically turbulent time – used realism to comment on social issues
BANKSY
Is the pseudonym of an English graffiti artist – his political and social commentaries have
appeared on streets, walls and bridges throughout the world
Armored dove of peace – graffiti
THE PURPLE SHALL GOVERN
According to South African History Online, the protest which took place in 1989, is
now known in history as The Purple Rain Protest and it took place in Cape Town.
Protesters marching to Parliament on September 2, 1989 were stopped by police
on the corner of Burg and Church streets in the city Centre. An impromptu sit-in
saw police retaliate with batons, tear gas and a new weapon - a water-cannon
spraying purple dye to stain demonstrators and make them easier to identify and
detain.
As protesters scattered, one of them, 25-year-old Philip Ivey, climbed onto the armored vehicle and turned the
cannon's purple jet on the police. Purple dye stained most of the surrounding buildings, including the National Party
headquarters and the whitewashed walls of the historic Old Townhouse, on Greenmarket Square.
And so, the march became known as the "Purple Rain" event.
The next day, graffiti around the city proclaimed: "The Purple Shall Govern".
Time magazine has noted the protest for its iconic imagery as well as its role in stopping apartheid in South Africa.
ART INSPIRED BY THE PURPLE RAIN
Willem Boshoff, Abamfusa Lawula, 1997 Shepard Fairy, The Purple Shall Govern, 2014.
, BACKGROUND – APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA
START OF RESISTANCE ART
• In 1948 the Afrikaner-dominated Nationalist party came into power with a mandate to implement apartheid.
• The Separate Amenities Act of 1950 prohibited different races from even visiting the same theatres or art
museums
• Nationalism: A love for your country
• Nationalize: becomes property of the state
• Nationalist: patriarch
Hendrik Verwoerd
- Firstly, the minister of native affairs
- Then became the prime minister
- Played part in designing and implementing the BEA in the apartheid era.
BANTU Education Act
- It brought African education under control of the government and extended apartheid to black schools
- Previously, most African schools were run by missionaries with some state aid.
- Government funding of black schools became conditional on acceptance of a racially discriminatory
curriculum administered by a new Department of Bantu Education.
- Most mission schools for Africans chose to close rather than promote apartheid in education
- In 1976 the children of Soweto decided to resist their oppression. It
was a revolt against the Bantu Education Act which was established
during the Apartheid era.
- Art education was nonexistent for black students and did not
feature in any schools, and they were not allowed to attend any
universities.
- The Bantu Education Act was a weaker form of education and had
different subjects. It prepared them for laborers, to form a working
force.
- Peaceful protest was met by police gunfire and many, like Hector
Petersen, died. (captured by Sam Nzima)
- New organizations mushroomed in opposition to the state & new
possibilities for action came into focus.
• Apartheid legislation classified South Africa's inhabitants and visitors into racial groups (Black, White,
Coloured and Indian).
• The system of apartheid sparked significant internal resistance. The government responded to a series of
popular uprisings and protests with police brutality, which in turn increased local support for the armed
resistance struggle.
• In response to popular and political resistance, the apartheid government resorted to detentions without
trial, torture, censorship, and the banning of political opposition from organizations such as the African
National Congress, the Black Consciousness Movement, the Azanian People's Organization, which were
popularly considered liberation movements.
• There was a deliberate policy in "white South Africa" of making services for black people inferior to those of
whites, to try to "encourage" black people to move into the black homelands, hence black people ended up
with services inferior to those of whites, and, to a lesser extent, to those of Indians, and 'coloureds'.
• In 1985 the government called a state emergency. Public meetings were banned. Activists were detained by
the police and military troops occupied towns. This happened after an incident in Sebokeng where police
fired at the crowd.