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 “THIS IS THE WORLD IN WHICH WE GROW, AND WE WILL GROW TO HATE YOU”
This is the provocative title behind the latest offering by Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year for Visual Arts, Michael McGarry. In this collection, McGarry aims to investigate “the ways in which the newfound and existing exploitation of hydrocarbons is in many ways an extension of the colonial- era legacy of Mercantile Capitalism” within the context of sub-Saharan Africa. It explores the relationship between the exploitations of natural resources “followed by systematic loss of employment and general societal decay” in post our post-colonial societies. His piece titled African National Congress explores this in the south african context. He looks at the dichotomy between a growing and diversified elite, aided by mechanisms like the Black economic Empowerment within the context of a decline in the local manufacturing sector and slow job creation. “South Africa’s mass population is kept in check –to various degrees- by the ruling elite principally through social grants... and consequently unable to generate employment for a substantial percentage of the populous. Our government is forced to pay the economically disenfranchised... And to suppress dissent”. Michael McGarry This is definitely something worth checking out. Catch the exhibition at the Brodie /Stevenson Gallery till 19th March.  |
