“Dead” Mandela sparks controversy in SA
By Dennis Otim – 12th-18th July 2010
A painting that depicts the “body” of South African and world political icon Nelson Mandela undergoing an autopsy has been condemned by South Africa’s ruling African National Congress [ANC] party; the BBC has reported.According to the report, the ANC said the artwork, which is being completed at Hyde Park Mall, a Johannesburg shopping centre, violated Mr Mandela’s dignity. The art “…piece violated Mr Mandela’s dignity by stripping him naked in the glare of curious onlookers, some of whom have seen their apartheid ideals die before them”; a statement from the ANC read in part. The ANC also criticised the Mail and Guardian newspapers for publishing a picture of the painting and described the act as “gutter journalism and soul-less sensationalism”.
The art piece itself shows Nelson Mandela’s “body” being cut open while others who looked like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Jacob Zuma, ex-President’s FW de Klerk and Thabo Mbeki among others stood around Mandela’s “body” as spectators.
But the now controversial artist Yiull Damaso says his aim is to make people confront death. “Nelson Mandela is a great man. But he’s just a man…the eventual passing of Mr Mandela is something that we will have to face as individuals and as a nation”; he said.
It is common knowledge that death is still widely considered to be a taboo subject in most African societies; not least of all in South Africa where Nelson Mandela, the man who is the subject of this painting, enjoys almost saintly admiration among many South Africans. The BBC correspondent said that “South Africans do not speak publicly of Mr Mandela dying out of reverence for him and perhaps out of a fear of accepting the reality that they would someday be without him”.
The management of the Hyde Park Mall where the painting is on display have received complaints including from some of Mandela’s relatives and they responded by saying, “…we feel it is a controversial piece…but we support freedom of expression and art”; Marketing Manager Nicola van Kan said.
Excerpts sourced from www.bbc.co.uk
