Why we need to decolonise our art

distribute Zimbabwean works of art to European/American audiences.
From this point the art was dislocated from its language of conception.

In this endeavour to capture the international audiences, we lost sight of the relevance of the art to our own people.
Whilst our art may contain several meanings emanating from the indigenous culture, the multiple readings are lost in the English translation.
Have you ever heard of a Dutch, English, French, German or Portuguese artist translate their art into Shona, Karanga, Korekore, Ndebele, Zulu, Swahili? I thought not.

The visual arts are conceived and created in the idiom and language of its creator/artist.
It is therefore important for art theories, art criticism, philosophy, aesthetics and journalism to be written and expressed in indigenous languages by knowledgeable, thoroughly dedicated and well-educated African people.

For Post-Colonial Africans, particularly Zimbabweans whose independence dawned in 1980, it is pertinent that we revisit our art and culture in our local language and thought process – whilst it is still intact.
We recently presented our art aspirations directly displayed on the world art platform at the “Venice Biennale 2011” (which runs until the end of November this year), as an English colony as opposed to an independent sovereign African state.

Every reference to our work was in English. The questions I pose are:
Did the Zimbabwean audiences at home (ana mbuya wedu) benefit, or learn anything from our artist’s who went to the 54th Venice Biennale2011/La Biennale di Venezia in Italy?
Is there any Ndebele or Shona translation of what the artists created, assembled, deconstructed or displayed?
Is there any documentation?

A short synopsis, in English, posted on the internet is not an acceptable substitute for a proper in-depth analysis of the purpose, consequences and prognosis of the Venice Biennale in indigenous tongues.
It is important for us to grasp the notion of language as a calabash and vessel for the development of art and culture.

Adopting the language of the oppressor
The dislocation of culture and language is not the only manifestation of what the West has done to Africa. Following the end of colonialism nearly all-African countries adopted official languages that originated outside the continent.

In most cases the language of their former oppressors and colonisers, is used by millions of Africans today, both in public and private spheres. As such, our official language in Zimbabwe is English.
Ironically, Africa is considered by most paleoanthropologists to be the oldest inhabited territory on earth, with the human species originating from the continent.
Africa is also the most multi-lingual continent on the surface of the world, where most individuals speak not only multiple African languages, but one or more European or Oriental languages as well.
Additionally, the legitimisation of language practice in Africa has been configured by the colonial predecessors and carved into Anglophone, Francophone, German, Spanish and Portuguese.

The inability of many Western and indeed, African writers, observers, intellectuals, art critics, art curators and gallerists to see beyond the stereotype of the African artist living through their passions and defining their culture in Western terms is evident in many fields of intellectual discourse.
This practice reinforces the Western assumptions and clichés that Africans are communal artists and are less original and individualistic, and that the art is solely based on communal dictates and beliefs systems, such as Tom Bloemfield’s Tengenenge.

Todate, however, our individual experiences, genie, geography, location and education vary immensely.
It should be equally understood that prior to the complete political liberation of Africa, our indigenous artists have had to work and think within and appropriate artistic concepts and communication frameworks through which Western media have made them visible.

Even until recent times, we as Africans have perpetuated our own oppression – by translating our concepts into a foreign language, for foreign consumption to the demise of our local indigenous audiences.

Some post-independence local visual artists had anticipated the cultural surveillance conducted by outsiders and produced and generated images for Western consumption.
Titles and concepts as nonsensical and preposterous as “Spirit Bull”, “Spirit Owl”, “Spirit Tree”, and so forth, have indulged the West’s fascination with the exotic “Myth and Magic” from Africa – yet the meanings of the titles have been limited by the use of literal Anglophone translations.

The meanings and context of the works of art are totally misconstrued.
Had the concepts been articulated in Shona, the artworks would have a holistic meaning and relevance to indigenous Zimbabweans.
Under colonialism, Africans were forced to use Western conceptions of their cultural practices as frames for sustaining their cosmology and beliefs.

In this post-colonial period the re-indigenisation of these beliefs is not simply a matter of extracting a preserved system from the clutches of Western cultural discourse.
Conceptualising art in local languages has now become a difficult task because our memory and the possibilities of enunciation are so thoroughly entangled in Western discourse that it acts as a stifling impediment to our own understanding of self.

Hence, what is felt, seen or perceived as indigenous is a poor, inadequate English translation of the African thought, philosophy, dichotomy and creativity.
This tension is continuously played out in the titles and concepts of artworks produced and exhibited in Zimbabwe, be it ceramics, graphics, paintings, sculpture, installations or video art.

In Western, discourse and interpretations of African values – the people and the language – are conspicuous by their absence.
Their discourse is in denial of our existence.

Thus, the use of indigenous languages in the creation and production of visual art is one way of developing African thought, aesthetics and philosophy whilst regaining an essential sense of our authenticity.

Language and art are the media through which intellectual, spiritual and socio-cultural cohesion can be re-assembled in post-colonial Zimbabwe.
Only then will we be rescued from the quagmire of colonial conceptualisation and subjugation. Let us dream in our mother tongue.