0:00:04.990,0:00:08.230
[♪ ♪ ]

0:00:21.825,0:00:26.359
All here used to be some fine white gravel

0:00:26.359,0:00:28.803
going all the way down the drive

0:00:29.720,0:00:31.560
It was beautiful

0:00:31.560,0:00:32.843
but there's a lot of work

0:00:34.442,0:00:36.899
I don't think I like raking too much.

0:00:36.908,0:00:38.853
My idea of gardening is that

0:00:40.000,0:00:42.191
you just throws seeds and let things grow

0:00:42.191,0:00:43.438
as if they're growing in the wild.

0:00:56.399,0:01:01.219
From my memory as a child, I always drew.

0:01:03.492,0:01:06.601
Then I would find myself constructing things.

0:01:09.119,0:01:14.119
I'd always show my grandmother and one[br]of my aunts and they'll say to me [Xhosa word].

0:01:14.238,0:01:16.528
[Xhosa word] means a creative person.

0:01:23.221,0:01:27.153
Even though I come from a culture where men are very important,

0:01:27.153,0:01:29.421
I grew up in a household where there’s no male figure.

0:01:30.807,0:01:32.751
I was brought up by my maternal grandmother.

0:01:33.606,0:01:36.490
She was a tough cookie and I'm grateful to have had her.

0:01:40.439,0:01:45.697
"All forces, good or bad, or somewhere in between, will be anxiously waiting for

0:01:45.697,0:01:50.547
the daring fool that hopes to venture onto the new land.

0:01:51.384,0:01:54.266
Don’t be scared just enjoy the cruise."

0:01:55.920,0:02:00.240
I think in English,[br]which was a reason I found myself trying

0:02:00.240,0:02:02.915
to go into using the Xhosa language

0:02:03.846,0:02:06.305
to remind myself of where I come from

0:02:06.880,0:02:09.660
[♪ ♪ ]

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When I was invited by the Uppsala Art Museum in Sweden

0:02:16.873,0:02:22.680
I decided the title of the exhibition should be “Zawelela Ngale,”

0:02:22.680,0:02:28.634
which is two words that refer to going to the other side.

0:02:33.000,0:02:36.000
In the world, there's debates around boundaries.

0:02:36.599,0:02:39.243
America is hoping to build its own wall.

0:02:41.035,0:02:44.142
At times you have to physically be on your belly crawling,

0:02:44.142,0:02:46.638
almost like a snake to go under fences.

0:02:47.879,0:02:50.560
But I said, that’s not what we are really talking about.

0:02:51.420,0:02:55.190
We are talking about something more superior than that crossing.

0:02:56.700,0:03:01.862
Going across, “Zawelela Ngale,” could be a psychological or spiritual crossing,

0:03:02.459,0:03:07.538
or intellectual going across to the other side of the field.

0:03:09.980,0:03:14.762
[♪ ♪ ]

0:03:18.420,0:03:23.933
I grew up in the Transkei, the former Xhosa homeland in 1975.

0:03:25.534,0:03:28.862
There’s only Xhosa people and a handful of white people,

0:03:28.862,0:03:30.983
and colored people.

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Even though it was part of the apartheid architecture,

0:03:35.340,0:03:39.299
somehow, we’re saved from the harshness of apartheid.

0:03:44.099,0:03:48.374
I got to experience apartheid firsthand when I moved to Johannesburg,

0:03:48.493,0:03:51.854
where the difference was being made very clear

0:03:52.092,0:03:54.751
that you’re Xhosa, you’re Zulu,

0:03:54.751,0:03:56.159
the Afrikaners

0:03:56.159,0:03:58.280
the English

0:03:58.280,0:03:59.807
and all the little feuds

0:03:59.807,0:04:01.672
that happen amongst each group.

0:04:04.379,0:04:07.792
We have a lot of challenges in our young democracy.

0:04:10.260,0:04:15.123
It's almost as though, whatever we thought was taut,

0:04:15.123,0:04:17.435
is beginning to almost unravel itself somehow.

0:04:18.588,0:04:21.007
So, I’m looking at myself in relation to the world

0:04:21.724,0:04:24.167
being South African, being black,

0:04:24.501,0:04:28.793
being Xhosa, being a gay man, being a man.

0:04:29.247,0:04:31.441
And I'm looking at the various cultures

0:04:31.441,0:04:33.901
that has brought this country to where it is now.

0:04:34.259,0:04:37.338
If you think of the Dutch influence, the British influence.

0:04:39.840,0:04:46.648
I had to unpack what symbolism I could use to refer to that.

0:04:50.880,0:04:55.000
- So there's a difference you see now when I pull that, [br]see that is still in position

0:04:55.146,0:04:56.835
it's not this it's not that.

0:04:57.306,0:04:58.475
- That's where we want it to be.

0:04:58.620,0:05:00.708
[♪ ♪ ]

0:05:00.996,0:05:05.725
I somehow found a way of relating that [br]to the idea of a medical practitioner

0:05:06.370,0:05:07.413
in a surgical room

0:05:08.400,0:05:11.136
when you have to heal someone.

0:05:11.590,0:05:14.140
You have to cut and remove the ailment

0:05:14.433,0:05:16.983
and stitch them again to mend them.

0:05:18.900,0:05:24.016
In the process of nation building you are [br]inflicting pain in order to heal,

0:05:26.999,0:05:29.112
so that's how the idea of

0:05:29.112,0:05:30.706
drawing with a knife

0:05:30.706,0:05:33.351
and sewing ribbons was born.

0:05:35.639,0:05:40.440
What is most important apart from the [br]objects that we're making

0:05:40.440,0:05:42.496
is that line that we cut.

0:05:45.840,0:05:52.358
The materials are there to add a layer [br]of the story that is being told.

0:05:54.960,0:05:55.817
- Do the usual pop, pop.

0:05:57.825,0:05:59.713
- And this one is one thousand five.

0:05:59.856,0:06:00.834
- That's one five?

0:06:00.834,0:06:02.465
- This is a beautiful brown.

0:06:04.259,0:06:10.613
In the Contemporary World, cowhide [br]goes into making our garments, our accessories

0:06:13.139,0:06:17.715
would take their lives to make our lives[br]easier for these human beings

0:06:20.580,0:06:21.291
- A big cow

0:06:21.291,0:06:22.985
they have that one, yeah?

0:06:22.985,0:06:23.767
They call the "achacha."

0:06:23.767,0:06:24.649
- Like a "Brahman?"

0:06:24.649,0:06:25.832
The achacha.

0:06:26.000,0:06:31.237
When there's a wedding ceremony, the cows[br]will be used as a dowry so they're valued

0:06:31.428,0:06:32.218
- Yeah, that's good.

0:06:32.218,0:06:34.584
It's our form of currency, traditionally speaking,

0:06:35.340,0:06:36.000
- That's one, two

0:06:36.000,0:06:38.579
three, four. Okay.

0:06:38.751,0:06:40.179
- Twelve thousand.

0:06:40.179,0:06:40.679
- Okay.

0:06:40.679,0:06:42.337
- I always forget your name, what's your name?

0:06:42.337,0:06:43.501
- My name is Kofi.

0:06:43.501,0:06:44.593
- "Kofi Annan."

0:06:44.593,0:06:47.859
- One time you'll see, I'll come and just take all your shop.

0:06:47.859,0:06:48.784
[Laughs]

0:06:48.902,0:06:50.960
- So that you'll come back and take everything.

0:06:50.960,0:06:52.960
- So that you can go celebrate!

0:06:52.960,0:06:54.501
Just clean you out.

0:06:54.501,0:06:55.853
- We're good right?

0:06:56.521,0:06:57.668
Voila.

0:06:59.134,0:07:05.000
[♪ ♪ ]

0:07:12.508,0:07:14.296
This is our sewing room.

0:07:15.156,0:07:18.242
And this is where we make our costumes.

0:07:20.259,0:07:22.192
Um, I'll start with this piece.

0:07:23.649,0:07:25.972
This was for my show at the ICA in Boston.

0:07:26.880,0:07:32.230
There I did a performance that was titled [br]“Thoba, utsale umnxeba”.

0:07:33.360,0:07:37.624
Meaning lower yourself and make a call.

0:07:37.744,0:07:40.771
That word could also mean draw a cord.

0:07:43.139,0:07:45.967
Humble yourself and redeem yourself so that

0:07:45.967,0:07:47.572
you are more respectful.

0:07:57.120,0:08:01.267
In the beginning, there was a time when we didn't dress.

0:08:01.888,0:08:02.388
- Hi

0:08:02.388,0:08:03.388
- Hi

0:08:03.579,0:08:04.557
- Good, how are you?

0:08:04.881,0:08:06.726
You can pick whichever one you want.

0:08:06.726,0:08:07.226
- Okay

0:08:07.226,0:08:08.088
- Between the two.

0:08:08.088,0:08:08.588
- Okay

0:08:08.994,0:08:10.000
Um, do you mind tying this?

0:08:10.378,0:08:12.172
We put a fig leaf in front.

0:08:12.769,0:08:17.101
Eventually, we found ways of processing skins from

0:08:17.101,0:08:20.676
different animals to better ourselves.

0:08:20.676,0:08:22.676
- We'll place the mirrors here.

0:08:23.280,0:08:24.563
- In the closet?

0:08:24.563,0:08:25.650
- Yes

0:08:25.650,0:08:26.150
- Okay

0:08:27.703,0:08:32.945
When cultures were still very young, men and women just draped ropes around their bodies,

0:08:32.945,0:08:34.260
there were no trousers,

0:08:35.574,0:08:37.720
and I find that to be very interesting

0:08:37.720,0:08:39.363
and I like the color white

0:08:39.817,0:08:45.126
for in all cultures is a color that symbolizes cleanliness.

0:08:46.153,0:08:47.513
It's about purity.

0:08:48.683,0:08:49.733
- Thank you, thank you

0:08:50.113,0:08:51.091
- Thank you very much

0:08:51.353,0:08:52.570
-Thank you, you look beautiful

0:08:52.977,0:08:54.456
Thank you very much

0:08:54.456,0:08:59.139
I conceived this performance with an intention to only direct it

0:08:59.688,0:09:02.980
and invite others to bring it to life.

0:09:04.509,0:09:07.726
[Sewing Machine Dinging]

0:09:14.820,0:09:18.022
- It's a beautiful day to sew,

0:09:18.022,0:09:19.835
everybody

0:09:23.268,0:09:28.849
Sew all of you! Sew! Keep on sewing!

0:09:28.920,0:09:33.771
The piece is titled, “The Parable of the Sower.”

0:09:34.320,0:09:37.799
It’s based on the history of missionaries

0:09:38.276,0:09:44.232
civilizing the uncivilized by introducing them to the sewing machine

0:09:44.232,0:09:51.268
to create a new kind of fabric, [br]converting them to become something else.

0:09:52.200,0:09:56.020
Today, how we colonize is not done by force.

0:09:58.200,0:10:01.921
The sewing machine is both masculine and feminine.

0:10:02.399,0:10:07.983
The bobbin at the bottom is an orifice and the needle is very phallic.

0:10:08.700,0:10:11.295
It embodies both ideas of sex.

0:10:13.011,0:10:17.073
In the end, it's about the conception of something new.

0:10:17.312,0:10:19.713
- You know how they say, "the clothes make the man?"

0:10:20.000,0:10:21.068
[Laughs]

0:10:21.068,0:10:22.141
We make the clothes.

0:10:22.573,0:10:25.000
I'm just sewing ideas into your mind

0:10:25.619,0:10:27.600
and I make you believe,

0:10:27.600,0:10:30.100
which I think equates colonizing.

0:10:32.641,0:10:36.040
[♪ ♪ ]

0:10:41.399,0:10:46.844
This building became a synagogue somewhere before 1926

0:10:46.844,0:10:49.881
when the Jewish community grew here.

0:10:51.242,0:10:53.820
So the star of David and the things that are there,

0:10:53.820,0:10:56.880
could have been stripped off, I could have taken them off so that I

0:10:56.880,0:11:03.356
erase its history and make it mine. So here I'm not colonizing it, I'm just here to take care of it.

0:11:05.243,0:11:07.504
I'm just here to take care of it.

0:11:10.657,0:11:13.526
We create our own understanding of the world,

0:11:13.980,0:11:15.334
all of us we do.

0:11:18.236,0:11:23.295
As an artist, you should be the one who sings off key.

0:11:29.339,0:11:32.678
The South African story I'm not the first person to tell.

0:11:34.920,0:11:39.314
Many people have told it and many [br]people will continue telling that story,

0:11:39.314,0:11:44.630
but I have to find my way of telling that story and share with the people all over the world.

0:11:48.601,0:11:50.785
To learn more about Art21 and our

0:11:50.785,0:11:57.394
educational resources please visit us[br]online at pbs.org/art21

0:12:01.910,0:12:04.501
Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 9 is

0:12:04.501,0:12:06.344
available on DVD

0:12:06.774,0:12:09.831
To order, visit shop.pbs.org

0:12:09.831,0:12:13.623
or call 1-800 Play PBS

0:12:14.387,0:12:18.388
This program is also available for[br]download on iTunes