Presidential Private Parts: Up Close and Personal
If you are in South Africa and don’t reside under a rock, then you’ve likely heard about the controversy raging over an artist’s portrait of South African President Jacob Zuma, called “The Spear”. If you don’t live in South Africa, or do reside under a rock, you can read about the controversy here.
The ANC (South Africa’s ruling party) has expressed outrage over the portrait, by prominent artist Brett Murray, which portrays President Zuma with exposed…ahem…private parts. In an ANC press release distributed on Thursday, spokespeople called the portrait “vulgar and distasteful” and claimed that it violates the president’s constitutional rights. The ANC has demanded that the Goodman Gallery – the well-known Johannesburg art gallery where the portrait is displayed as part of a Murray exhibition called “Hail to the Thief II” – remove the picture, and has taken the Goodman Gallery to court over the matter. The gallery has vowed to keep the portrait up. (Obviously.)
I could expound at length on the many ridiculous, hilarious, outrageous, and even frightening aspects of this story. But I’m sure there are plenty of other South African bloggers out there doing that already. And let’s be honest, people. You probably couldn’t care less what I think, but I’ll bet you really want to see with your own eyes what all the brew-haha is about.
So. Are you ready?
WARNING! Presidential private parts exposed below.
Voila!
Another perspective.
Hahahahaha. Ha.
I was compelled to go in for a close inspection.
Oh, and for those of you not from South Africa or living under a South African rock, it’s worth mentioning that 70-year-old Jacob Zuma currently has four wives (he’s been married six times total) and 20 children (at least). He married his latest wife a couple of weeks ago.
The entire exhibit, which I thought was fabulous, is dedicated to poking fun at the ANC. There are many other interesting works in addition to The Spear.
“Good Cop Bad Cop” and “You Can’t Polish a Turd”.
Zuma. He’s got balls.
I’ll offer just two pieces of commentary about the exhibition:
Thanks to the ANC’s poorly thought-out publicity campaign, the Murray exhibition is the hottest show in town. Everyone has heard about it and wants to check it out. The Goodman Gallery was packed today, filled with jovial people snapping frames on their camera phones. It’s great fun, so you should go if you can.
I think Murray’s depiction of Zuma is actually quite flattering. I mean really, the president should be proud.
Kudos to Brett Murray and the Goodman Gallery. You made my weekend.
The Goodman Gallery is at the intersection of Jan Smuts Avenue and Bolton Road in Parkwood. The exhibition is scheduled to run through June 16.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Update as of 22 May: All hell has broken loose in the furor over “The Spear”. This morning, two vandals walked into the Goodman Gallery and defaced the potrait with spray paint. You can watch the video footage on YouTube. And here’s a play-by-play analysis of what happened from the Daily Maverick.
What next? I have no words.
Comments
I want to go!!!!
You must! It’s so great.
So, the intention was to portray him as MACHO? Then, shouldn’t the spear be, ahem, at attention? I did enjoy the idea, but I hope it doesn’t catch on. We have enough trouble with leaders who can’t keep it in their pants.
To be honest, I actually had the same thought (about the spear being at attention, that is). Hahahaha.
A very succinct indication of what makes the whole world go round. Love it.
Yep, Private parts make the world go round!
He has FOUR wives!? I don’t live in South Africa, but clearly I’ve been hanging out under my own rock a little too long. Thanks for sharing this info. Hugs, Kathy
Yep. Hard to believe, I know. I also wasn’t aware of this until shortly before I moved here. Interestingly, the president’s polygamy gets very little media attention. His last marriage barely made headlines.
Hi Kathyryn McCullough, since you dont live in South Africa and “have been hanging under the rock” i’d be pleased to let you know that before Zuma was elected to be our President he had more than 1 wife including Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, (which they are now divorced). It is his culture that he was practising “something that we blacks proud our self of” and i am proud of the fact that he never stoped practising his culture even aftr he was elected to be a “South African President”…
Hugs
Simphiwe. I hope you continue enjoying your stay and learning more about our different cultures
Hey Simphiwe, just to let you know, polygamy is still practiced in some parts of the United States as well – among white, Mormon men in Utah and Texas. These men also claim that polygamy is part of their culture. I disapprove of their cultural practice, and it has nothing to do with their race. I disapprove of it because I personally believe that polygamy is demeaning to women. I won’t speak for Kathy but I suspect she might feel the same.
I don’t necessarily believe polygamy should be illegal (although it is illegal in the United States) – I just think it sucks. And I believe I have the right to say so. Just like any artist has the right to create any art that he wants, regardless of whether someone else disapproves.
Okay, I’m finished preaching now.
well “2summers” i wish you spoke for your self not for Kathy, but i suspect she will agree with you since you dicided to be her P.A. I wish that before you depicted and judged on how a race practised their culture you would do some research on the actual people practising that particular culture as oppose to basing your reseach on google and other social media. And ask the actual women who are wives to those men if is it in any way “demeaning” to them and if were they forced to marry a man with many wives…..!!!!! This is our culture that you people are depicting on. There are women who want to be part polygamy apart from you desaproving… I personaly hate it when you come with your westernased way of doing things and inforsing it on the rest of the black nation. And this South Africa not the United State so.. I refuse to do things the wastern way as to suit your weasternased way! my
Hey, I’m not judging anyone. Frankly, I don’t think I know enough to make an informed judgement one way or the other. I was simply curious to learn the fact that Zuma has 4 wives, and I AM curious to learn more. If you ever come the US, perhaps, I can introduce to the many subcultures in my country, as well.
I have it on good authority that the pose is copied exactly from a Leninist poster of Lenin.
Yes, I saw that too! Funny.
Love it!
So there was a statue of George Washingon that Congress commissioned in the 1830s - DC was scandalized when it was delivered showing the first president half-naked in a classical toga.
It was eventually moved/hidden from the Capitol to the Smithsonian, and it’s in the Museum of American History today: http://bit.ly/KD28nV
Very interesting! The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Why does the exhibition (from what I can see, ha) have undertones of the Soviet Union and Lenin? Does the ANC have Leninist or Stalinist policies?
Many people have been commenting on the similarity between Zuma’s portrait and that portrait of Lenin. I’m no political historian so I’ll leave it to someone else to muse upon the parallels. But historically, the ANC has always had connections with the Communist party.
Wow. I’m literally at a loss for words over that…ahem…piece. But I do like the Springbok sign. There were some ‘boks at the zoo I visited this weekend!
Haha, I’m glad you appreciate the sign. I almost left that photo out because it’s not directly relevant, but left it in specifically for the signs.
What a disgrace and shameful display of disrespect. Zuma is a person not just a President, how many of you out there would be pleased to have your private parts on display. Grow up.
To any of the people who find the presidents privite parts exposed in this manner “funny”, before you giggle did you take a thought of how it would be if that was you or any1 of your family members. Yes we have a freedoom of speech, freedoom of expresion, but we should all know that having rights doesnt mean imposing the rights of others. We all have rights to be naked in our private space but being naked in public is dubed public indicency, meaning rights have a begining & an end… (am sure even artist were thought respect somewere in theire lifes)…
I actually agree with Simiphiwe on this one. I actually thought about this properly today. Yes, he is a public figure and the press and artists will construct several parodies about you but there is a line where art and defamation/invasion of privacy should be drawn. It seems to me a step too far - showing someone naked without their consent is just not on.
What REALLY worries me about this and why I think its just a step too far is that if the courts allow this to be kept up, then every single individual in the country then has no right to contest defamation or any other form of unsavoury depiction. I’d like to think I am protected from having my head placed on the body of Pol Pot or Idi Amin and displayed as art. That is what is really scary. We are given a lot of freedom but we have the responsibility to use it in a way that is not hurtful. The president himself has commented about how he dislikes the picture. I think that is enough to make the gallery take it down.
Thanks for the comment, Shahil. I’m happy this post is creating debate as I don’t usually write about “controversial” topics like this. I guess I’m a hardcore libertarian though – I just don’t agree with you. I pretty much support artistic expression in any form. And if my head were placed on Idi Amin’s body in a work of art, I have to say…I think I would laugh :)
I personally think we as south africans should learn to appreciate our freedom and embrace it not to abuse our freedom we are not really free if one is not entitled to privacy not only is Zuma a president but also a husband and a father and it very rude to mork an elder publicly please way the respect in all this!
Thank you Nadine,President Zuma is following his culture of having more then one wife and there is nothing wrong with that.I will never have more then one wife but if Zuma and his wifes are happy about it so why we bother.This is just being rasist nothing else.
I don’t want this discussion to devolve too much, and I’m not the artist so I don’t think it’s fair to really get into what the exhibit might mean or not mean. But I will say that I think this particular piece, and the exhibit as a whole, is about a lot more than just how many wives Jacob Zuma has. I specifically mentioned that fact in my post because I know that lots of people outside SA aren’t aware of it, and – let’s face it – it is kind of funny under the circumstances. Anyway, I appreciate your comment!
I agree with your comments to the replies Heather. There is ultimately a bigger picture and a message across to the audience which soooooo needs to be expressed.
Thanks Jacks! The bottom line for me is, I enjoyed the exhibit. It was interesting and made me think. (And I’ll admit, it made me laugh, too.) That’s what art is all about.
A few people did not find the Nando’s advert funny - The last dictator … i just couldn’t understand why - I thought it was the best I had seen.
So now the photo has been defaced, and on TV too (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JZqDqQDpU8), so this post and others like it are the only place you can see it in its original form.
Now the question is : Can the defacers claim ‘freedom of expression’ themselves?
I know! This is frickin’ crazy! I’m speechless.
All I have to say is - Spell check!
Dibbs_ZA if you dont hv a thing to say to me then shut it, dont come judge the wrong spelling i wrote, (get the message? if you do then reply to me & if you dont its still ok to silent your self, hanse silent sometimes is the best answer)
My apologies Simphiwe.
In my own experience, the best thing about a spell check is that it forces one to read what they have written.
Then during that ’time-out’ moment a person may choose to re-consider the words that they used and even the harshness of the tone they were delivered in.
Perhaps though, for the sake of all our emotional responses to this issue, we should just follow your advice and that of my parents:
“If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”
Warmest regards.
Hi, I would firstly like to point out that the genitalia painted is not an ACTUAL private picture of Jacob Zuma. It is a piece of anatomy painted on the President that is metaphorical. Metaphorical imagery. I am sure if a head of state was painted with a huge rifle to metaphorically comment on violence, there would be no so upheaval. How is a rifle any less offensive than a human biological part?
Secondly, I sincerely do not see the infringement of our President’s rights? The whole exhbition was/is telling a story. It’s not like Brett Murray stole an actual private picture on Zuma’s hard-drive and put it on display. He has a right to draw or paint whatever he deems fit. There was not a single thread of hate speech in the painting.
Thirdly, I am personally not a polygamist and do not ever see myself with more than spouse. At the same time though I do recognise an individuals right to have more than one spouse (whether it is one husband many wives (polygny) or vice versa (polyandry)), as long as these arrangements are 100 percent consensual and parties involved may easily ‘back-out’ (divorce ?) from such arrangements. At the same I do recognise that sometimes polygamy can perpetuate oppression and subordination of women, these elements I do not agree with at all and do infringe on anothers rights.
ZUMA IS OUR PRESIDENT NO METTER WHAT.
Although we dnt lyk hm,our president hasnt done anythn bad for us to humiliate him lyk dt.nobody deserves wat hs hapnd 2 hm.i give my ful support to our president Zuma
I’ve watched the defacing video on youtube a number of times and apart from the fact that defacing someone else’s property should be labelled a ‘crime’, my main thought was that the guard’s body-slam was legend.
Indeed. The headbutt was pretty remarkable too.
wow - you certainly have brought about a lively topic of discussion on this one! I posted some pics today of sculptures that adorn the Arc de Triomphe. Unintentionally, none of the close ups of the 4 large murals that adorn I photographed, show the full relief - some of which contain men’s “bits”. As far as I can tell, not being the neoclassical art history buff (ahem), men with their manhood on show is not perceived as derogatory in any way at all. Mind you, they are all the epitome of Adonis. Fast forward from the 1800’s to 2012, we have a slightly different medium of art (I personally see it as “à la Pulp Fiction crossed with Andy Warhol”) and everyone gets their knickers in a knot. Nobody seems to mind that the Zulu virgins, dancing in the annual Reed Dance, have their boobs out - photographed and YouTubed for all to see. Why should it matter that this form of art (presuming Zuma didn’t actually pose for his portrait) be so contentious? He’s a virile leader, after all. I actually just enjoy the title of the art exhibit “Hail to the Theif II”. What was on show in “Hail to the Theif I”, if there was one??! - and will there be a III???
I wondered the same thing about the name of the exhibit! As far as I know there is no Part I.
Great comment, thanks.
President Zuma is a public figure so he must just get used to seeing things like this.