‘KAT’ EMNYAMA’- by Tony Gum

‘KAT’EMNYAMA’ BY TONY GUM christophermollerart.co.za

Memoir (noun) [Unlike an autobiography, which spans one’s entire life, a memoir focuses on one particular moment or series of moments around a theme. Readers walk away knowing you, and that one experience, on a much deeper level].

Some say that in our vulnerability lies strength and that, on the other side of fear is love. Cliché and profound phrases like these are largely the preserve of extraordinary but often, transformative experiences. Belonging to what we know in South Africa as the ‘born free’ generation, those born into a postdemocracy South Africa.

In 2019, South Africa turns 25 years old, arriving at a significant ‘turning of age’ of its very own. In ‘human terms’, twenty-five signals maturity, adequate early life experience, informing future choices, decision-making and outcomes. At 25 years young, South Africa has arrived at a defining moment in time to reflect on its choice and decisions to date, coloured by immense darkness, pain, trauma and uncertainty, following the apartheid years. Whilst I was not yet born during the years of oppressive apartheid rule, like most of my peers, I relate to what life might have been like pre-democracy. Not only because they still experience remnants of the system today but also because, like a young adult coming to terms with the process of maturity, transformation and healing takes time. It is the fine art of self-mastery, the process of addressing hard and often-brutal truths.

As a ‘born-free’, I can say with conviction, the first two decades of life come with a myriad of complex, intense, contrasting, yet sometimes thrilling encounters that stretch us beyond our comfort zone. I am beginning to appreciate that expansion is integral to life’s tapestry. By going through the refinement process and not necessarily around it, we connect with our unique life’s purpose and reason for being (raison d’être). For artists, creativity offers a unique, perhaps less regimented framework and language with which to articulate and express those nuances unique to each individual’s journey. Creative expression is the tool most aligned to my sense of being ultimately, manifesting as the conversation I wish to have in the world.

As within so without, art, like the eyes, pose as a window to the soul. Through the creative lens, we access intimate ideas; concepts and lessons derived, whether we are in the spotlight, in focus and when we are out of the ‘spotlight’. The more comfortable I am with myself, and my creative language, the more fluent and fluid I become. The more freedom experienced, the deeper I can go, contributing to broader narratives including, culture, identity, gender, and colonisation. These are among important subjects I have explored via mixed-media genres, digital, scenography and painting in my previous bodies of work, for instance; ‘The Land of Milk and Honey’, ‘Ode to She’ and ‘Free Da Gum’. More recently, however, I extended my range and creative repertoire to include sculpture through a series entitled; ‘Rock Cause Analysis’, which examines the importance of recognising the

“As a ‘born-free’, I can say with conviction, the first two decades of life come with a myriad of complex, intense, contrasting, yet sometimes thrilling encounters that stretch us beyond our comfort zone.”

Left: Tony Gum, You are Me & I am You II, c-type fuji crystal archival print, dibond mounted, 153 x 107 cm, edition of 10

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Crossing of Cultivation, 200cm X 100cm, Photography, resin, Found objects, Paint, Layers

contribution made by women to the evolution of our culture and society by placing them on plinths, particularly Xhosa women, being a Xhosa woman myself.

A prerequisite to continued growth and evolution, not only as an artist but, as a whole person, means delving deeper into the moment to achieve our greatest potential. Being open to the wisdom that often, what challenges us stretches and expands towards our true potential.

This body of work is, therefore, a personal manifesto. It is resilience made manifest. It is symbolic of what it means to be ‘open’, vulnerable, bold and fearless. The things that true authenticity requires of each of us. The willingness to go beyond one’s comfort zone, whilst immersed in the unknown where uncertainty and feelings of alienation often reside. It is learning to hold one’s center when all seems unbearable, could crumble at the blink of an eye, it is finding it within ourselves to hold onto the intangible (faith) sources of strength and wisdom - what we come to know as our ‘life experience’.

A personal self-reflective series, this new body of work is inspired by my most recent experiences which have come with a spectrum of emotions - pain, fear, rage, loss, darkness and the unknown, eventually reconnecting with, love, hope, light and joy. Accounting for the process of transformation as an artist is fundamentally also about being honest and deliberate. Whilst being an artist is in many respects, liberating and healing, a pre-requisite to this sense of freedom includes the responsibility to create from a place of integrity and truth.

Symmetry or duality, monochromatic themes, anthropomorphism and scenography, are some of the modalities I employ to capture states of inner turmoil, rebellion and my healing journey unfolding. This project evokes several primal yet catalytic states I have wrestled with; on one hand, ‘creation’, giving life to something or the nurturing of life which conjures absolute connection, love and belonging, whilst, loss, purging and abandonment bear emotional and spiritual detachment.

Riding The Putsch, c-type fuji crystal archival print, dibond mounted, 153 x 107 cm, edition of 10.

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Above: You Are Me & I Am You I, c-type fuji crystal archival print, dibond mounted, 153 x 107 cm, edition of 10 Right: November 14th, c-type fuji crystal archival print, dibond mounted, 153 x 107 cm, edition of 10.

I have found solace and serenity in simple yet strong palettes, red possibly the strongest, most indicative; culturally and spiritually symbolic like these and representative of the journey – red carries life force, oxygenated blood, and fertility in women, red denotes fire, intensity and passion. White and black occupy their distinctive realms; yin/yang, light and dark are symbiotic in many ways relative to culture and reference points. One gives form and shape to the other – black holds space for light to shine, white gives depth and form to the dark. More simplistically, however, black symbolises death and white, purity and light. This series is a journey with myself, accompanied by new friends, lovers, both human and of the animal kingdom, like my black cat, Diesel. Animals in many ways reflect the true essence of our souls and emotions.

Kat’emnyama ‘Kat’ in Xhosa, Tony Gum’s mother tongue means cat in English. Black cats in most African cultures are synonymous with ‘bad luck’ or evil spirits. In this series, the artist in a deliberate, quasi-rebellious fashion places a double-headed black cat above her

head, also reflected in duality. The black cat, Kat’emnyama, rests across both her heads and body upheld by a body adorned in black suite, and a head adorned in a white raincoat - Gum captures her state of dissonance, internal turmoil, darkness, however, emphasizing that both light and dark make for ‘a whole’ picture. We cannot embrace one side or aspect of ourselves without coming to terms with the other, no matter how scary, dark or broken. Boldly challenging cultural constructs for what eKat’emnayma represents among African people. Palms together, centered prayer position offer the definitive signifier, we are each predisposed to both enabling and experiences that manifest, when all seems overwhelmingly dark (double-headed black cat), when we want to believe the answers and solutions are outside of ourselves, they are always within, the moment we align to this eternal wisdom.

During the period of significant loss, Tony Gum adopted a black cat (she named Diesel) ‘Kat’emnayama became proxy for her anticipated role as nurturer. This relationship formed with Diesel Kat’emnyama, allowed her to self-reflect given very little was familiar

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Get Better Soon, c-type fuji crystal archival print, dibond mounted, 153 x 107 cm, edition of 10

anymore; in body, mind and spirit. Diesel held the mirror up to Tony’s spirit and soul – this red series, explores with intensity and dexterity, the inner-self, internal states brought to life in the external through Gum’s creative lens – photography, symmetry, monochromatic wash colour palette and her signature selfportraiture style.

Self Well aware of what is going on, but still is reckless. Became a person that was unrecognisable to self in relationships. Those closest to me bore the brunt of my emotional state of flux. Sometimes we have to experience a certain thing (even painful) in order to be closer to the ultimate self.

Reminiscent of another young South African photographer, Phumzile Khanyile’s Plastic Crowns series, 2016 Phumzile Khanyile, born 1991 in Soweto, South Africa, through selfportraiture, explores what she identifies as, ‘the tragic boundaries of what my grandmother would consider a ‘good woman’, probing stereotypical ideas of gender, sexual preference and related stigmas and their relevance in contemporary society’. Challenging socio-cultural constructs, placing their narratives in focus, Gum and Khanyile make bold yet ethereal statements unequivocal about taking their ‘seat at the table’ of discourse on contestation, ‘self awareness’ and transformation. – Lungi Morrison.

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Christopher Moller Gallery7 Kloofnek Road, Cape Town; www.christophermollerart.co.za; @christophermoller_gallery