‘Breaking the Rules: SA artists ask questions…old rules?...new rules?’ - St, Sebastian.

A curriculum based exhibition at the Durban Art Gallery.

The work St. Sebastian was created in 2010, forming part of an exhibition titled “Dialogue among civilizations” a project under the patronage of UNESCO which was held on the 21st of March 2010 at the Durban Art Gallery. Participants were asked to create work based on the theme of identity, land, object and belief. The exhibition aimed to elicit and challenge the South African public’s views on xenophobia, racism and refugees. 

Since the end of that same year until now I have been living, working and traveling in Asia with Taiwan as my home base, where I have recently obtained permanent residency. It being almost 10 years later, on the opposite end of the planet, immersed in a whole different set of rules from another culture, not much appear to be different with regard to above mentioned concerns. With recent events playing out in Hong Kong with the onset of the extradition law changes, it brings to light the tensions between the many and the few, those in control and those who believe they should be in control, those who own and those who borrow, and those who exploit and the exploited. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet and Uyghur(Xinjiang) share similar concerns with regard to China’s aggressive expansion policies, something that should resonate with most African nations as well when it comes to the veiled alliances between African leaders and the one party government.

Sebastian had concealed his faith in Christ. In 286, Diocletian reproached him for his supposed betrayal, and he commanded him to be led to a field and there to be bound to a stake for archers from Mauritania to execute him. The archers shot at him till he was covered in arrows and left him there for dead. The widow of Castulus, Irene of Rome, went to retrieve his body to bury it, and she discovered he was still alive. She brought him back to her house and nursed him back to health.

Sebastian later stood by a staircase where the emperor was to pass and harangued Diocletian for his cruelties against Christians. This freedom of speech, and from a person whom was supposed to have been dead, greatly astonished the emperor; but, recovering from his surprise, he gave orders for him to be seized and beaten to death with cudgels. His body was thrown into the common sewer.

What role do we play in this game of ‘sides’?

All convictions have consequences, what are these convictions but conditioned subjectivity and points of views sculpted by our experiences. Truth? Knowing in what is right? Standing up for and supporting constructions dreamt up by ancestors, peers and politicians?

“What kinds of thinking can be excavated from our experiences and observations tinged with our biases and understandings. How do new ways of seeing assist toward anything. Why do we strive toward betterment and why do we feel this pressure that existence needs to come to an end at a high?”

Believing and trusting your own guidelines, which may be nothing more than an ornate husk? What? I don’t know…what are we doing? What does it matter? Maybe we should only listen, try to feel what is felt and die quietly in knowing that it is all an instance which may or may not be relevant to something or someone somewhere.

References:

The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints. Volume ll: The life of Sebastian. Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275.  First Edition Published 1470. Englished by William Caxton, First Edition 1483, Edited by F.S. Ellis, Temple Classics, 1900 (Reprinted 1922, 1931.)

My First Book of Saints. Holy Mary Immaculate – Quality Catholic Publications. Fr. Paolo O. Pirlo, SHMI (1997). "St. Sebastian". pp. 22–23.

“Walk Through Walls: A Memoir”. Marina Abramovic with James Kaplan. First Edition 2016. Published in the United States by Crown Archetype.