Bubblegum Club

Tag: manhood

  • Inxeba (The Wound): protest, culture & a tumultuous gay love story

    Warning: This article contains spoilers from the film, Inxeba (The Wound).

    Set in the scenic mountainous Eastern Cape emerges Inxeba, a powerful, moving and thought-provoking South African work of art directed by John Trengrove. This daring and unsettling film narrates the intersectional story of an uninspired and lonely Xhosa factory worker Xolani (Nakhane Touré) who joins the men of his community to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood (a process known as ulwaluko). As Xolani embarks on the journey of being a caregiver during the initiation period, he encounters Kwanda (Niza Jay Ncoyini), a sullen yet defiant and disruptive initiate from the city of Johannesburg who urges Xolani to interrogate his queer identity.

    Inxeba is essentially a revolutionary tumultuous gay love story between two caregivers Xolani and Vija (Bongile Mantsai) which takes place in a violent, patriarchal and hyper masculine environment. It explores compelling themes concerning homosexuality, the construct of Xhosa masculinity as well as the colliding juxtaposition of modernity (represented by references made to the city and the effect it has on those that have left their rural homes) and tradition. Unfortunately, we live in a society where most instances of violent behaviour committed by men go unchecked which begs the question of how we should transcend violent masculinity in such spaces.  This film is revolutionary in numerous ways as it protests toxic masculinity and patriarchal cultural norms, it exposes deep-rooted homophobia and it fundamentally opens important and difficult conversations.

    The sublime cinematography manages to beautifully capture pain, love, affection, fear and rage all at once. One of the most mesmerizing moments in the film comes from the scene by the waterfall which showcases the passionate black Xhosa male lovers (Xolani and Vija) embracing one another, kissing, cuddling and being affectionate. This moment proves to be ground-breaking and encapsulating as it defies the rigid social norms and homophobic views that are held by some men.

    Viewers also get to witness the blossoming friendship between the caregiver and initiate. In a strange but organic way the initiate becomes the teacher when he drives his caregiver to confront his truth and sexual identity. The initiate plants the seed of learning and unlearning for his caregiver to which his caregiver rejects and ultimately chooses to return to his former life. The act of silencing is a common theme that reoccurs throughout the film. Kwanda is constantly silenced when he problematizes Xolani’s hypocrisy or even when he calls out Xolani for having an affair with Vija who has a wife and children back home. Kwanda’s opinionated and outspoken nature ends up being his detriment. This sets a strong precedent that being outspoken and fighting for what you believe in can get you killed. In the end, the unsafe environment that Xolani and Vija find themselves does not grant them with the opportunity to truly and freely love each other. They would rather pursue great lengths to protect their secret than taking the risk of being exposed, shunned and ostracized.

    Inxeba is bound to evoke feelings of shock, resentment, despondency and inquisitiveness which will take time to unpack, process as well as have honest and uncomfortable conversations whether it be on the dinner table or on social media. This film is imperative for the representation of the LGBTQ+ communities and that cause should not be derailed by cis-het fragile men. The representation of the queer community and queer issues in infinite versions matters. It also serves a crucial role of dismantling patriarchal cultural norms. We should ultimately never use culture as justification to dehumanise, oppress and subjugate marginalized folk (in this case queer folk) and if culture commits such acts of violence, this desperately needs to be tackled as well as problematized.

  • Thandiwe Msebenzi // an interrogation of the private as an unsafe space

    “I don’t have the privilege to take a break from being a womxn. By creating artwork that speaks to these issues I am able to heal and tackle them head on and in the process hopefully, challenge the oppressive system we all exist in.” – from an interview with Design Indaba.

    Thandiwe Msebenzi, a photographer and member of all-female art collective iQhiya, uses her chosen medium as a way to communicate her own experiences as a womxn, and to connect this to larger conversations about how womxn are treated, and how they are forced to navigate space. Through unpacking her own experiences she is able to challenge patriarchal notions of womxn’s bodies as objects of desire and control. Msebenzi has mentioned that this idea of womxn existing as items to be consumed by eyes and hands, and her own encounters with the feelings that come along with this, form the foundation for concepts she explores through her lens.

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    The themes that she addresses relate to the deliberate silencing of female voices, and unboxing the presence of femme beings within physical, political and cultural spaces. Deeping the engagement with these themes is how she looks at trauma and violence. Holding these different elements together in her work is the strength that womxn have individually and collectively. In her work this strength is presented as a site of defiance, healing and reconstructing problematic understandings of womanhood, especially in relation to problematic notions of manhood.

    Often using herself as her own subject, one is able to see how her work is a direct reflection of her own experience. However, it also allows for the recognition of oneself as a womxn, particularly a womxn of colour, within one of the layers she lays out in her work. The potency of her message comes from her interrogation of private spaces – spaces that are assumed to be the containers of safety and comfort. One of the ways she has represented this is by photographing weapons that she has placed on beds.

    Referring to the meaning of this, Msebenzi  expressed that, “sometimes you need something that transcends certain meaning. Weapons mean violence. Put them on a bed, something quite soft and something quite vulnerable. Juxtapose them and that is a story of two things that should not co-exist but they do because that is the story of someone’s life.”

    Thinking about this within the context of 16 Days of Activism, and the fact that most of this violence is performed by men that are known to their victims, the relevance of Msebenzi’s work echoes continuously.