Nicholas Hlobo in "Johannesburg" - Season 9 - "Art in the Twenty-First Century" | Art21

[♪ ♪ ]

All here used to be some fine white gravel

going all the way down the drive

It was beautiful

but there's a lot of work

I don't think I like raking too much.

My idea of gardening is that

you just throws seeds and let things grow

as if they're growing in the wild.

From my memory as a child, I always drew.

Then I would find myself constructing things.

I'd always show my grandmother and one
of my aunts and they'll say to me [Xhosa word].

[Xhosa word] means a creative person.

Even though I come from a culture where men are very important,

I grew up in a household where there’s no male figure.

I was brought up by my maternal grandmother.

She was a tough cookie and I'm grateful to have had her.

"All forces, good or bad, or somewhere in between, will be anxiously waiting for

the daring fool that hopes to venture onto the new land.

Don’t be scared just enjoy the cruise."

I think in English,
which was a reason I found myself trying

to go into using the Xhosa language

to remind myself of where I come from

[♪ ♪ ]

When I was invited by the Uppsala Art Museum in Sweden

I decided the title of the exhibition should be “Zawelela Ngale,”

which is two words that refer to going to the other side.

In the world, there's debates around boundaries.

America is hoping to build its own wall.

At times you have to physically be on your belly crawling,

almost like a snake to go under fences.

But I said, that’s not what we are really talking about.

We are talking about something more superior than that crossing.

Going across, “Zawelela Ngale,” could be a psychological or spiritual crossing,

or intellectual going across to the other side of the field.

[♪ ♪ ]

I grew up in the Transkei, the former Xhosa homeland in 1975.

There’s only Xhosa people and a handful of white people,

and colored people.

Even though it was part of the apartheid architecture,

somehow, we’re saved from the harshness of apartheid.

I got to experience apartheid firsthand when I moved to Johannesburg,

where the difference was being made very clear

that you’re Xhosa, you’re Zulu,

the Afrikaners

the English

and all the little feuds

that happen amongst each group.

We have a lot of challenges in our young democracy.

It's almost as though, whatever we thought was taut,

is beginning to almost unravel itself somehow.

So, I’m looking at myself in relation to the world

being South African, being black,

being Xhosa, being a gay man, being a man.

And I'm looking at the various cultures

that has brought this country to where it is now.

If you think of the Dutch influence, the British influence.

I had to unpack what symbolism I could use to refer to that.

- So there's a difference you see now when I pull that,
see that is still in position

it's not this it's not that.

- That's where we want it to be.

[♪ ♪ ]

I somehow found a way of relating that
to the idea of a medical practitioner

in a surgical room

when you have to heal someone.

You have to cut and remove the ailment

and stitch them again to mend them.

In the process of nation building you are
inflicting pain in order to heal,

so that's how the idea of

drawing with a knife

and sewing ribbons was born.

What is most important apart from the
objects that we're making

is that line that we cut.

The materials are there to add a layer
of the story that is being told.

- Do the usual pop, pop.

- And this one is one thousand five.

- That's one five?

- This is a beautiful brown.

In the Contemporary World, cowhide
goes into making our garments, our accessories

would take their lives to make our lives
easier for these human beings

- A big cow

they have that one, yeah?

They call the "achacha."

- Like a "Brahman?"

The achacha.

When there's a wedding ceremony, the cows
will be used as a dowry so they're valued

- Yeah, that's good.

It's our form of currency, traditionally speaking,

- That's one, two

three, four. Okay.

- Twelve thousand.

- Okay.

- I always forget your name, what's your name?

- My name is Kofi.

- "Kofi Annan."

- One time you'll see, I'll come and just take all your shop.

[Laughs]

- So that you'll come back and take everything.

- So that you can go celebrate!

Just clean you out.

- We're good right?

Voila.

[♪ ♪ ]

This is our sewing room.

And this is where we make our costumes.

Um, I'll start with this piece.

This was for my show at the ICA in Boston.

There I did a performance that was titled
“Thoba, utsale umnxeba”.

Meaning lower yourself and make a call.

That word could also mean draw a cord.

Humble yourself and redeem yourself so that

you are more respectful.

In the beginning, there was a time when we didn't dress.

- Hi

- Hi

- Good, how are you?

You can pick whichever one you want.

- Okay

- Between the two.

- Okay

Um, do you mind tying this?

We put a fig leaf in front.

Eventually, we found ways of processing skins from

different animals to better ourselves.

- We'll place the mirrors here.

- In the closet?

- Yes

- Okay

When cultures were still very young, men and women just draped ropes around their bodies,

there were no trousers,

and I find that to be very interesting

and I like the color white

for in all cultures is a color that symbolizes cleanliness.

It's about purity.

- Thank you, thank you

- Thank you very much

-Thank you, you look beautiful

Thank you very much

I conceived this performance with an intention to only direct it

and invite others to bring it to life.

[Sewing Machine Dinging]

- It's a beautiful day to sew,

everybody

Sew all of you! Sew! Keep on sewing!

The piece is titled, “The Parable of the Sower.”

It’s based on the history of missionaries

civilizing the uncivilized by introducing them to the sewing machine

to create a new kind of fabric,
converting them to become something else.

Today, how we colonize is not done by force.

The sewing machine is both masculine and feminine.

The bobbin at the bottom is an orifice and the needle is very phallic.

It embodies both ideas of sex.

In the end, it's about the conception of something new.

- You know how they say, "the clothes make the man?"

[Laughs]

We make the clothes.

I'm just sewing ideas into your mind

and I make you believe,

which I think equates colonizing.

[♪ ♪ ]

This building became a synagogue somewhere before 1926

when the Jewish community grew here.

So the star of David and the things that are there,

could have been stripped off, I could have taken them off so that I

erase its history and make it mine. So here I'm not colonizing it, I'm just here to take care of it.

I'm just here to take care of it.

We create our own understanding of the world,

all of us we do.

As an artist, you should be the one who sings off key.

The South African story I'm not the first person to tell.

Many people have told it and many
people will continue telling that story,

but I have to find my way of telling that story and share with the people all over the world.

To learn more about Art21 and our

educational resources please visit us
online at pbs.org/art21

Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 9 is

available on DVD

To order, visit shop.pbs.org

or call 1-800 Play PBS

This program is also available for
download on iTunes