Halakasha!

Andrew Dosunmu, Images from African Cup of Nations, Launda, Angola, 2010. Digital Print. 200 x 150 cm. Private CollectionCredit: Standard bank Gallery

Halakasha!’ celebrates the historic first FIFA World Cup™ in Africa and runs concurrently with the tournament. This flagship exhibition, housed in both the upstairs and downstairs exhibition spaces at the Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, showcases a range of artworks dealing with the global phenomenon of soccer and the passion it evokes in Africa in particular. Running from 2 June to 17 July 2010, it also features the enthusiastic support for the South African national team.

The exhibition’s title, ‘Halakasha!’ is drawn from the traditional South African celebratory cry on a goal being scored.

The exhibition is framed mainly around themes of local and African supporters, imaging the politics and nationalist sentiment associated with soccer during and after the apartheid era. Artworks are drawn from the Standard Bank African Art Collection and from other South African collections, and the exhibition also includes work borrowed from international sources, as well as specifically commissioned works.

Designed to showcase the full spectrum of cultural manifestations of the love of soccer, the exhibition includes makarapas (crafted soccer helmets), vuvuzelas (embellished soccer trumpets) and commercially produced soccer merchandise, such as clothing and taxi bumper stickers.

Also on show are personal tributes created by adoring fans and fine art by internationally acclaimed artists. Featured artists include the sculptors Nelson Mukhuba, Jackson Hlungwane, Kevin Brand, Sibusiso Maphumulo and Collen Maswanganyi, and painters such as Gerhard Bhengu, Mary Wafer, Penny Siopis and Durant Sihlali. Among the other artists on the show are William Kentridge, Kay Hassan, Joachim Schonfeldt and Pieter Hugo.

Video installations and projections also feature prominently in the exhibition and   include a commissioned work by Zanele Muholi on soccer and gender, and a video project developed by Sally Gaule, which draws on looped still images taken from cellphones. Simon Gush’s video installation, In the company of, features a 37-minute video of players engaged in a match over a set of railway tracks.

Other highlights include popular street art in the form of painted barber signs by Ghanaian and Congolese artists; a selection of posters from the official FIFA™ poster collection of commissioned prints by world renowned artists (© FIFA 2010, brands united, Berlin (licensee) / David Krut Publishing, JHB (distributor); and images from Drum magazine relating to soccer during the apartheid years, which appear throughout the various themes of the exhibition.

Adding to the richness of the exhibition are documents and handmade badges by political prisoners on Robben Island, where the game was played; local cartoons from the popular press.

Costumes and items such as drums and masks from Angola, Cameroon and Ghana that are echoed in some of the images on show are also included, as well as photographic essays, for example, a feature on African soccer audiences by Nigerian filmmaker and photographer, Andrew Dosunmu, who has been documenting supporters of African football for the last eight years. In January this year, Dosunmu documented fans at the 2010 Orange Africa Cup of Nations matches in Luanda, Angola – the tournament for which Standard Bank is the official financial sponsor. A selection of his work depicting fans in a range of guises, such as religious prophets, drummers and musicians, magicians, cross dressers, chiefs and military personnel, is featured.

A further fascinating element of the exhibition relates to isangoma and inyanga, diviners and healers from different language groups across South Africa, who use traditional medicine and ritual practices to ensure a winning performance from their favoured team and for protection from the magic of rival traditional practitioners. Pre-match rituals could involve the throwing of bones to foresee the outcome of the game. Healers also strengthen the players by preparing muti to be rubbed on their legs. To give voice to such issues, the exhibition includes examples of items associated with divination practices.

The “beautiful game” is nothing without the fans. Branding oneself in the colours and insignia of one’s team is a huge part of the spectator spectacle at matches. Supporters also engage in performance in the form of face painting in the colours of their chosen teams. The makarapa helmet has become a trademark of the South African supporter. Plastic construction site safety headgear are transformed into warrior helmets by cutting them open, pulling out the shapes and heat modelling them into insignia and branding associated with their preferred clubs. A large collection of these ubiquitous, garish and colourful objects, grouped in a circular formation mimicking a stadium, greets the viewer on entering the exhibition.

The exhibition, curated by Fiona Rankin-Smith of the Wits Art Museum, also includes a series of documentaries and films on the theme of soccer. These will run throughout the show, which is accompanied by an extensive catalogue.

Leave a comment