I lament the stupidity and lack of empathy of some people, like are they blind or do they just not care.

I feel numb.

When art gets censored, that is when you know things are getting serious in the world. 

a few hours ago it was made official that there would be no artist to represent South Africa at the Venice Beinnale. The artist Gabrielle Goliath who was supposed to represent South Africa has had an artwork running since 2015 called elegy (go look it up it is gut-wrenchingly beautiful). In the beginning it focused on femicide and the murder of LGBTQI+ people in South Africa. For the Beinnale it had planned to also include violence against women in Namibia and Gaza. Can you guess why it got pulled? 

One man held that decision our current Minister of sport, arts and culture(also a right wing politician) Gayton McKenzie. Goliath was urged to remove and adjust her artwork. When she refused she got pulled. 

The thing I find funny is, they went searching for other artists before officially announcing that there would be no none to represent South Africa at the the biennale. Meaning that they could not find an artist who could and would conform to their ideal censored world they want to represent. That makes me so proud as a South African baby artist just starting out in the art community. But I wish I could say that I am fully optimistic about this situation, the art world is a system with a facade of artists freely expressing themselves, but what holds it together is money, and when it comes to money people want to play it safe. My only hope is that this does not impact our freedom of expression and income as artists in South Africa overall. 

I recommend checking out 'The Art Newspaper' article on it called "South Africa pavilion will be empty at 2026 Venice Biennale, culture ministry says". 

This was a bit of a rant  I have posted a more thought out blog about this on my nekoweb site that I linked on my profile.