Bubblegum Club

Tag: filmmaking

  • Discussions on survival as an independent artist in South Africa

    Discussions on survival as an independent artist in South Africa

    According to the World Economic Forum 15-20 million young Africans are expected to join the workforce every year for the next three decades —begging the question; what opportunities will exist to allow these young individuals meaningful work; work that is challenging, impactful and unexploitative.

    Surviving as an independent artist has always been a particularly difficult endeavour. In an increasingly difficult economy thronged with high levels of unemployment and competition, artists find themselves at wit’s end on how to survive while earnestly pursuing their work.

    The 2018 South African Wealth Report estimates the global top-end art market for African Art accounts for US$1 billion, of which US$450 million (R5.5 billion) is held in South Africa specifically. The report estimates that South African art prices have risen by 28% over the past 10 years (in dollar terms) far above the 12% rise in global fine art prices. However, the manner in which this creation of value is distributed remains skewed — with very few leading artists at the top; Irma Stern, Maggie Laubser, JH Pierneef, Alexis Preller, Gerard Sekoto, Hugo Naude, William Kentridge and John Meyer. It is unfortunate that the art world mirrors the rest of society in terms of how value is created and how the cake is divided.

    What are the tenets of a sustainable career in the arts? In which ways are artists at differing levels of experience and “success” sustaining their careers and their lives? Through engagement and conversations with artists across various mediums and platforms; from those who recently left art school to those with decades of experience in the art world, (specifically fine artists practicing in photography, filmmaking, painting, printmaking, performance art and writing), I fill in this context and my own observations.

    What instantly became clear is that pursuing a career in the arts and opting to remain independent requires dedication and commitment and should be inspected through the lens of entrepreneurship.

    The blended approach

    Many artists opt for the blended approach in terms of how they make money. They seek to work with a range of brands and corporates over and above passion and personal projects. Many are open to part-time work as well as other work outside of the industry as a strategy to supplement income; this ranges from tutoring, baby-sitting, retail and working for institutions and galleries.

    A stable source of income is seen as an important component to creating more spaciousness as they work on strategies for a more scalable income.

    “The secret to working part time is finding something that grows, teaches and inspires you. Outside of film my first career opportunities came from galleries to create performance artworks – specifically avant-garde Hollywood-genre immersive narratives.” – Emma Tollman (writer, singer/songwriter, actress).

    In the same light, some artists are able to fully fund their work and their lifestyles without needing to supplement with additional work.  Factors such as; length of time spent in the industry, visibility and a substantial portfolio contribute to where artists find themselves on the part-time/full time artist scale.

    “I try to balance freelance and corporate work. Corporate always pays better and on time, but it is often not the most exciting thing. Freelance is often great because you have the luxury to pick what you want to work on.” – Lidudumalingani Mqombothi (writer, filmmaker and photographer).

    Additional avenues which can provide a source of income include residencies, prizes and grants from art institutions as well as the government.

    Understanding the market

    Artists feel the pressure as they tug between making work that is commercial and work that is more honest, a constant negotiation between authenticity and relevance. Commercial work sometimes results in overproduction —prioritising sales over growth and experimentation.

    A key observation is that South African art buyers tend to be rigid in terms of what they’re looking for; there are very specific narratives and aesthetics that the market is interested in, making it very difficult for more conceptual and experimental artists to succeed financially.

    Brands and corporates are also less open to risk; they gravitate towards artists that already have a strong following and a certain level of visibility —a popularity trap that results in brands approaching the same “trendy artists”.

    “Usually those spaces are looking for trendy or cool people or work that is ‘accessible’ in ways that one can exploit the term. There’s a particular aesthetic that such commitments require.” – Nyakallo Maleke (multidisciplinary artist in installation, printmaking, sculpture and performance).

    It is difficult to conclude with certainty what factors exactly will result in success. Is it the quality of the work, social capital, seizing opportunities as they occur or merely an air of celebrity? However, we speculate that some level of awareness of industry dynamics and politics allow different artists the ability to navigate with agility and to plan around ways in which they can approach opportunities.

    “By grade 12, I was already selling designs and charging consultation fees, I started exhibiting my work in my second year — that became one stream of income. I think diversifying my practice has also helped financially.” – Banele Khoza (Visual artist).

    Administrative competence goes a long way in ensuring a more professional art practice, which often has a bearing on the type of work and clients artist work with. Quite simply, these include:

    1. the ability to price work fairly and appropriately
    2. client acquisition strategies
    3. securing a reliable support team
    4. sending quotes and invoices on time.

     

    Artwork by Banele Khoza

    Thinking for the future

    Sustaining an art practice requires investment through time, mentorship and training. A contested issue among artist is the idea of working for free — while some artists use this as a long-term strategy to build a considerable portfolio, others refuse on principle. A resistance towards the exploitative nature of brands, corporates and institutions.

    “Sometimes you need to weigh up your options and see what would be sustainable for you to gain; what would be beneficial as an opportunity in the long run. Sometimes you need to turn down a gig, especially if the client wants to underpay you or doesn’t see the value in what you do. It’s also okay to take a break to work a 9-5 so that you can plan further for your future and really focus on where you want to be after that.” – Nadia Myburgh (recent graduate and photographer).

    A key theme that emerges is the importance of saving; many of the artist we spoke to mention this is a key learning area in their journey. Saving allows greater freedom where a highly unpredictable and precarious income stream is a reality.

    “I’ve learnt along the way to always stay true to what I want to achieve and to let go of fear. I was afraid of how long it would take me to get on my feet without a 9-5 or how I would be able to sustain myself. Sometimes you’re held back by financial constraints as well as time constraints but also by fear. I’ve learnt that I need to be fearless and brave.” – Malebona Maphutse (Printmaker, photographer and filmmaker).

    Artwork by Malebona Maphutse

    Social Media to generate professional currency

    More and more artists are embracing social media as a way to enhance their marketability and reach. They continue to use social media (to varying degrees) as a way to make their work more accessible while drawing in new audiences. “Social media and galleries play an important role in exposing my works to potential buyers; both local and international.” – Themba Khumalo (Visual Artist).

    Social media is often the vessel through which many collaborative efforts are cultivated. Artists are pointing to the importance of learning and growing together whilst also alerting each other to opportunities that can be financially beneficial. They are pointing towards ideas of honing your skill and making yourself more marketable and thereby creating a competitive edge.

    “Collaboration creates space and a platform for people to share ideas and tackle difficulties. But I think it’s difficult when we are still obsessed with this myth of the genius, we idolise creatives and put them on a pedestal. I think that can be a hindrance to collaboration. You kind of [have] to do your own thing and benefit from it alone, monetary or otherwise, but there is something to be said for collaboration. You can create a bigger network in that way.” – Nikita Manyeula (Masters student at the University of Witwatersrand).

    Through this process of conversing with artist about the often, unnamed pains and joys of building a sustainable art practice, I was able to gain some insights into the different possibilities of navigation. Although there are no easy or guaranteed answers, keep in mind the key takeaways; be patient, save money, understand the dynamics of the industry and invest in the work. I am inspired by the idea of celebrating small victories as a way to sustain energy and passion – a simple concept that allows emotional and mental wellbeing.

    Artwork by Themba Khumalo
  • Eh!woza – youth-driven media meets art, science and anthropology

    Eh!woza – youth-driven media meets art, science and anthropology

    The ongoing project Eh!woza sees collaboration and skill sharing between scientists, artists and learners create awareness through filmmaking. The programme has a positive effect on the learners involved in that they are able to be introduced to the world of creating documentaries, while also being given the chance to tell the stories of their communities through their own eyes. I interviewed Phd student Bianca Masuku (Molecular Mycobacteriology Research Unit, IDM, UCT) who is involved with the programme.

    Where did the idea for Eh!woza come from?

    Eh!woza was never really intended to be an ongoing project. The idea developed after a conversation at a bar between an artist and biomedical scientists. It started with the production of a short documentary after the scientists held a health workshop with learners from IkamvaYouth and the film described young people’s thoughts and attitudes towards TB, while unknowingly establishing the pilot for the project as it developed. The overall idea behind the project as it started to grow was to find creative ways for communities of scientists to use the biomedical knowledge of infectious diseases and to translate their work to communities of people radically affected by, and having relatively limited access to information about the disease. The scientists, who spend most of their time isolated in the lab, get an opportunity to understand the disease outside of their environment and TB affected communities are invited to understand the disease within the lab. And visual media and art mediate this intersection and create a platform to co-produce knowledge. An important part of this is that instead of artists and film-makers making films, the films are produced by learners themselves, meaning that learners decide on what to represent and how it is represented.

    Why do you think that a creative medium, such as filmmaking, will have a larger positive impact with regards to creating awareness and allowing people to share their stories when compared to other channels/mediums?

    The use of filmmaking creates an opportunity to translate and communicate with a broad audience of people about a very complex issue. The visual medium creates new forms of social intervention. It’s a compelling and capturing and familiar medium for larger and more diverse populations and age groups to consume, has an educative and activist power to it, and can function as a tool for awareness.

    The films produced by the learners document the historical development of social perceptions; highlight stigmatizing and prejudicial images; and make a way of influencing and engaging with public perceptions of infectious diseases. Visual media and methods such as filmmaking are platforms that make the struggles and experiences of other people knowable and visible, challenge conceptions and construct perspectives, and became points of engagement, showing the faces and sharing the stories of everyday people that exist within specific communities.

    How did the idea for a collaboration between artists, learners and scientists come about?

    The idea emerged after scientists held a health workshop and two artists produced a pilot film consisting of interviews with young people from the township of Khayelitsha. The young people spoke about how they believed in and wanted to initiate some kind of change within their communities, through the addressing the problem of TB and saying that it is a disease that is taken for granted amongst their peers and amongst adults within their communities. This inspired a collaboration, a coming-together of the tools, skills and knowledge that all members of the collaboration could bring to the table to address a problem/disease that significantly shaped their social or academic lives, through a medium that would be accessible to a very diverse population of people outside of the project.

    Please share more about IkamvaYouth and why you chose to select learners from this NGO?

    The collaboration happened very informally. One of the scientists that was working around TB knew the founder of IkamvaYouth and suggested it would be a good organisation to team up with. Ikamva is an educational NGO that operates in 14 townships in 4 provinces in the country. The NGO works with learners from disadvantaged communities and through their tutoring programme, provides the knowledge, skills, networks, and resources for learners to pursue tertiary education or seek employment and aims to “increase the collective skill level of the population, to grow the national knowledge base, and to replicate success in more communities”.

    Learners that participate in the tutoring program are selected not through academic merit, but through their motivation and determination to improve themselves and their communities through education. It is this motivation to change and improve that Eh!woza also works to develop and encourage. So the aims of Ikamva fit with ours and rather we sort of fell into it, we’ve been really happy to continue working with the organisation. IkamvaYouth therefore offers access to a broader and more diverse population of young people who already have the motivation and determination to create some kind of change in their communities through knowledge.

    https://vimeo.com/259666665

    What are you hoping will be the impact of this collaboration for the learners involved as well as for the people who come across the films?

    The learners who participate in the project always highlight how the most rewarding aspect of the project is the fact that they feel empowered by the knowledge and skills that they gain through participation. The films produced become a reflection of that; a product that shows who they are and what they can do as young people in their communities, and the realities of their social worlds.

    The audience who come across these films are given access to the realities of people most affected by the disease and an opportunity to engage with the social, historical and economic dimensions of infectious disease through these local stories and what they reveal about the disease in a local context. The films are also starting to expose contextual issues such as poverty, sexual violence, violence affecting LGTBQI+ communities.

    The programme also aims to instill a sense of agency in the learners involved. Please unpack the importance of this?

    What we hope is through participating in the project, a sense of urgency and the ability to affect change will be developed and nurtured. We hope that learners finish the project with a feeling of being able to change things in whatever way seems needed and suitable. To want to make a difference about issues that they care about in ways that they want. We hope that the learners gain technical skills and knowledge around film production as well as biomedical research, but also softer skills and self-assurance.

    Who is the intended audience for these films?

    It’s a question we often get asked to be honest I guess the answer is everyone. The films are meant to create an active awareness for the learners’ peers on the impact of TB in their communities, educate, demystify, and destigmatize the disease for adult members of the communities from the perspectives of the learners, so really the learners and their peers and adult connections. But they are also there to reflect the realities of TB and TB affected communities to the greater population locally. Eh!woza also has a fairly active social media presence which attempts to reach a wider audience in other provinces and we are in the process of developing a schools program within the Cape Town area, and expand from there.

    Please unpack the importance of interdisciplinary learning and collaboration, as evident in this work? How can this assist with awareness and understanding for issues such as HIV, TB, violence against LGBTQI+ people, sexual violence, poverty, etc?

    The different skill sets and training that the team members – art, science, anthropology – bring different perspectives to these issues. There’s often a tension in the different ways that these disciplines think and I think it’s in grappling with that tension and finding ways to bring them together, that new and different ideas come to the fore. The importance of the collaborative nature of the project also really bears fruit in providing a space for the learners involved in the project to investigate and understand, and then create awareness around these issues in ways which learners want, rather in than prescribing issues and specific tools or ways in which to investigate them. The learners have very quickly caught on to the fluidity of the project and ideas and understand that disease is a starting point from where to interrogate associated issues surround disease and have the freedom therefore to explore any associated difficulties affecting communities, and not just a primary focus on the disease itself.

    What were the responses to the films?

    The films have received extremely positive feedback from communities of learners that view each year’s outcomes at screenings that continuously inspire on-going recruitment from Ikamva. People outside of this learner population are often amazed at the level of work that the learners are able to produce, the content that they create, the inspiring stories that they share, and the artistry throughout the work. Some learners recently presented their films at a symposium at Wits and the audience was really wowed by the films and content, but also a bit stunned at the level of engagement of the films and presentations the high school learners.

    How has the programme evolved since its inception?

    It started off really small and was meant to be a once off documentary about TB. It has grown a bit into something that runs every year and throughout the year, and while still very focused on TB and health, social concerns like violence and poverty are starting to show up more in the films produced. The learners lead the project and constantly shift it in many different directions through the stories that they have revealed through participation and different aspects of their social worlds. This has inspired opportunities for further collaboration with other organizations and communities of people that were initially outside the scope of the project. One group of learners documented the struggles of ex-mine workers, while two other groups created a film that addressed the experiences and challenges of young teenage lesbians within their neighborhood, and another the realities of sexual abuse through the story of a neighbour. We also have a collaboration with MSF (Doctors Without Borders) and local musicians in Khayelitsha. This is just starting up.

    And as for me personally, I am an anthropology PhD student studying the intersection of science, art, media, and youth education within the Eh!woza project and how knowledge (about an infectious disease) is configured and produced within it. This also adds a significant social science dimension to the Eh!woza’s work and is creating academic outputs for the project. In a country where the majority of TB sufferers are black, poor, and vulnerable to ill-health and those wearing lab coats are white, well-off and healthy, a project such as Eh!woza makes it clear that illness is not merely accidental – social context, environment and circumstances shape the bodies we have; and the bodies we have shape our experiences of and in the world.