Many themes are explored in Urbanation, an exhibition by Soweto-born artist Kay Hassan, not least of which are poverty and the environment. The exhibition is at the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

Soweto-born artist Kay Hassan explores urban issues in his exhibition Urbanation at the Johannesburg Art Gallery

THE nitty-gritty of urban life is the subject of an exhibition, Urbanation, by Soweto-born artist Kay Hassan, now on at the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG).

Urbanation, a mid-career retrospective of paintings, installations, photography, collage and video, opened on 29 June at the gallery. During a walkabout on Wednesday, 9 July, curator Clive Kellner and Hassan spoke about the exhibition, which includes an untitled collection of photographs of shreds of clothing washed on Mozambique's beaches. The series is an allusion to commercialisation and the worldwide over-production of goods.

"The photographs also depict a ritual [of] Mozambicans, [in which] they throw the clothes of a deceased person into the ocean. The ocean ‘spits' these clothes out on to the beach," Kellner explained.

The photographs also speak about poverty. Western countries donate tonnes of clothing to Third World countries, only for these clothes to end washed up on the coasts of these countries. "It's a cycle of poverty," Kellner added.

Another theme in the photographs was environmental degradation. "People need to be educated about the environmental consequences of their actions."

Adjoining this photographic collection is an astonishing collection of second-hand clothing that fills the four walls of a room. A pile of old clothes lie in the middle of the room.

"The room has been transformed and forms a connection with the photographs of the washed-up clothes. The walls are ‘painted' with hundreds of brightly coloured second-hand clothes, extending the theme of over-production and poverty touched on in the photographs."

Rubbish dump
Hassan's interest in urban life is depicted in the next room, where video is shown of a rubbish dump teaming with people scrounging for reusable objects dumped by rubbish trucks. The brutality of this life is stark; the video shows scores of birds deeply engaged in eerily similar acts as the human beings only a few metres away.

A reflection on the issues of overproduction and urban poverty

A figure, familiar at the intersection of Columbine Road and Main Street in Southgate, is seen "conducting" music in a video in the next room. "Broer Tom", as the man in the colourful regalia is popularly known, is considered "crazy" by many.

"But it is people like Broer Tom - and people like you and me - who make up the city. I have engaged with Broer Tom and he is not ‘crazy' as people think."

His familiar "music conductor" movements are captured on film, accompanied by a composition by musician Vusi Khumalo. "It as if he is conducting life," Kellner said.

Hassan's three paper constructions on exhibition are monolithic and occupy most of the wall space in the JAG's Phillips Gallery. The result of hours of traversing streets collecting old billboards, they are a way of looking at reality in society and of reconstructing the negative images of, for example, alcohol and cigarette advertising, into positives.

Time and space
In another room is an impressive collection of clocks. In one corner, one can listen to their calming tick-tock sounds through headphones. "Time and space is of essence in an urban environment which is always characterised by rapid pace of change," Kellner explained.

My Father's Music Room takes the viewer back to the days of rock 'n roll, The O'Jays and The Temptations. An impressive vintage collection of long-play vinyl records adorn two sides of the room, with an equally old gramophone placed squarely in the middle of the collection.

The soft 1960s music floats through the room, giving off a nostalgic air.

Space and time change rapidly in the next room, where a "mining" exhibition comprising a glass cabinet with mining gloves and "diamonds" is installed. On the walls are pictures of humans, representing the countless thousands of miners who made the country what it was toady, Kellner said.

Old army bags are transformed into punch-bags and juxtaposed with a video of boxers sparring at a gym in Hillbrow in The Boxers. The sounds of military drums and the thud of punches punctuate the space, portraying a close relationship between institutionalised violence and the sport.

The walkabout ended at Morning Ritual, which depicts family life in an urban setting.

History
Born in 1956 in Diepkloof, Hassan attended the well-known Evangelical Lutheran Church Art and Craft Centre - more commonly known as the Rorke's Drift Art Centre. He also studied in France and Switzerland and taught art at the Federated Union of Black Artists Academy.

With a number of local and international exhibitions under his belt, Hassan is one of the country's most highly regarded artists. These include Snap Judgments (2006-2008); New Identities, in Bochum, Germany (2004); The Short Century, in Berlin, Chicago and New York (2001-2002); and Kwangju Biennale, in South Korea (1995).

Winner of the 2000 DaimlerChrysler Award for Contemporary Art, Hassan has also held solo exhibitions in Belgium, Switzerland and the United States.

Urbanation runs until 30 September at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. For more information contact the gallery on 011 725 3130.

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