THE DRAWING THAT SHOWS SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT'S SECRET PARTS.
Buti Manamela, deputy minister in the
presidency, said: “We don’t have time for bigotry and what clearly is racism being projected as art.
presidency, said: “We don’t have time for bigotry and what clearly is racism being projected as art.
"Hopefully the artist feels good about himself and I don’t think we want to be preoccupied with this when the country has far more important concerns.”
Manamela, threatened to close down a gallery in Johannesburg for displaying The Spear, added: “If you want to ridicule the leadership of the country, that’s your privilege. It’s quite sickening.”
Others were also quick to criticise.
Arts editor Charl Blignaut at City Press newspaper said he personally regards the work as racist adding that it "plays into a painful history of not only the exoticisation of the black male body but also the fear of the virile black male that subconsciously drove so much of apartheid policy, alcohol and drug legislation, and separationist philosophy."
“It both fetishises and emasculates the black man, while neatly stereotyping him too,” he said.
Kannemeyer, said the furore sounded like censorship and added: "So I have a right to talk about the white man’s penis but not the black man’s penis?” he said.
Kannemeyer is known for his controversial explorations of ethnicity and politics.
The Spear artist by Brett Murray has leapt to his defence saying artists should be able to "push the envelope."
