Internationally acclaimed Botha 0

– Local Bigotry 2

Installation of the elephant at the Field Museum, Chicago, USA

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Internationally acclaimed Botha 0 – Local Bigotry 2

By Peter Machen

In Durban, Andries Botha's public art works have continued to be plagued with difficulties over the last

month. The removal of the artist's newly installed sculpture of Shaka Zulu at King Shaka Airport garnered

embarrassing attention from around the world, while the fate of the artist's stone-and-gabion

elephants, which were partially installed on a freeway going into the city before the ANC decided they

were too reminiscent of the IFP logo is still, after all these months, undecided.

Several days after the statue of Shaka – without a spear or shield, and accompanied by a number of

cows – was unveiled by President Jacob Zuma, who in his speech championed the non-militaristic re-

visioning of the Zulu leader, the statue was removed due to pressure from Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini.

Zwelithini apparently thought that Shaka looked too weak and was unimpressed with the pastoral

nature of the work. Ironically, it has subsequently been suggested that it would be more appropriate if

Shaka was depicted hunting elephants.

While the debacle around Botha's elephants and particularly Shaka have received much press coverage

in South Africa and around the world – and considerably raised the artist's international profile – Botha

is disappointed that there has been so little substantial dialogue around the real issues at hand. For

Botha, the removed Shaka work is about reflecting the true heterogeneity of identity and the body in

South Africa, yet all discourse around the issue seems to take place in terms of stereotypes and

homogeneity. Talking about the statue's removal, Botha said “It is impossible for me to understand it.

The question that needs to be asked is why did the ANC acquiesce so quickly to the king.”

As for the elephants, Botha, who has been a model and patience and restraint for the past few months,

is getting a little weary of all the debate – or lack of it. “I just want to do what I want to do. I don't want

to sit everyday with these fuckers. If I wanted to go into politics, I would have done that.” Instead he is

increasingly thinking of legal action to prevent what he refers to as “the moral integrity of the artwork”

and is talking about taking the matter to the constitutional court.

He is particularly unhappy with the suggestion that the elephants become elements in a 'Big 5' work, an

idea which he has rejected from the very beginning. Botha has repeatedly stated that he is not a wildlife

artist and nor is he prepared to allow his elephants, which are a profound expression of

environmentalism, to constitute instead a metaphor that supports “a limited nationalist agenda.”

Making the situation all the more absurd, Botha has spent the last few weeks accompanying his rubber-

tyre elephant Nomkhubulwane around the United States where it has been enthusiastically received.

Nomkhubulwane is the 17th in a series of life-size elephant statues crafted from recycled materials

On a happier note, rumours that the artworks commissioned for the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban

have all been covered up by Fifa are untrue. The football body did initially erect screens in front of

certain artworks but they have subsequently been removed, and all of the art at the stadium is on view

to the public, presidents and football lovers around the world.

Installation of the elephant at the Field Museum, Chicago, USA

For more see: www.humanelephant.org

See some exciting images at: www.humanelephant.org/gallery.html

Elephant on the move: Move to Field Museum

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Project manager Vance Martin and Andries Botha and reflection

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Project manager Vance Martin and Andries Botha during installation

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Andries and Andre

Nomkhubulwane at the Illinois Institute of Technology

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IIT Children's visit to elephant

Nomkhubulwane at the Illinois Institute of Technology

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IIT Round table discussion

Nomkhubulwane at the Illinois Institute of Technology

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Nomkhubulwane at the Illinois Institute of Technology

Andries and children during programme

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Nomkhubulwane at the Illinois Institute of Technology

Andries and children during programme 2

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King Shaka Durban International

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King Shaka Durban International

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See some exciting images at: www.humanelephant.org/gallery.html

King Shaka Durban International

For more see: www.humanelephant.org

See some exciting images at: www.humanelephant.org/gallery.html