I think capitalism will always be the villain in these scenarios. Making inspired and interrogative art makes you unpalatable for most spaces and brands which means you’re not making any money and the kind of art you’re speaking about requires time, resources and access which often needs to be bank rolled. So most creatives stay in a safe “intellectually hollow” pocket to make sure they can eat and the ones who are successful want to stay there, so they try really hard not to fuck up the bag. Making art for art’s sake is integral but it’s hard to do when you need to eat and survive
As the essay notes, “When creatives avoid political or social responsibility, it is often because critique threatens access, funding, or social capital.” While I don’t dismiss the role capitalism plays in shaping these decisions, art should not have to be emptied of substance in order to remain palatable. Much of the work being produced today is, without question, easy to consume and widely acceptable, but palatability alone is not the issue. The real absence is a sense of why. Without intention, risk, or critical grounding, the work may circulate successfully, yet it ultimately feels unresolved, prioritizing comfort over meaning.
Couldn't have said this better. It's the problem with a lot of "influencer marketing", the veneer of success, style, culture but upon further investigation - nothing of it. Brands definitely want to profiteer off of grassroots and subcultures and will invariably move on once things become 'hip' elsewhere. Always has been and probably always will. And artists are feeling that pressure, the thrust toward virality, Tik Tok relevancy and so forth. I know many such people personally and I often wonder what will happen should platforms that abide this "creative virtue signaling" ever disappear - what happens to the artists then?
“it requires an ethical commitment” - yes yes yes. You don’t have to be responsible for the message you’re sending with your art if you’ve made no commitment to making a statement.
Nor are you responsible for accurately representing your references. Though it feels more like a lack of care, this shallowness is a great way to evade accountability. Great essay!
As a 17 year old creative who is hungry to change or disrupt the landscape in creativity in South Africa,this resonated with me so much.Thank you so much
The work relies heavily on context with the mystic of their claims easily falling apart upon careful examination largely because of the superficial ideas through false stakes.
Artists fail to emotionally respond to their subjects, the works are made in boredom and intended strictly for an audience; the internet.
I often wonder what their sketchbooks look like if they keep any.
"visually polished but intellectually hollow: content that circulates well online but says very little" This right here is our main issue that I feel not just in the creative space but also in various spaces from politics, education, careers within South Africa and art. Everyone is always focused on the WHAT you have and never the why you have it and what it means to you. Our people constantly chase titles and looks like Dr or Adv or CA(SA), constantly asking for who you vote for or what church congregation you are in and never why you chose to align yourself to that space and what it means to you. I feel that due to the prolonged, chronic unemployment crisis and wealth inequality that we suffer from many people become detached to our reality and what it means to us. Art imitates Life and our creatives are the voices of our people, the voices of humanity, so to be so intellectually bankrupt is but the consequence of social failures that were never properly addressed. Sorry this is long, what you wrote really had me thinking 😭😭😭
I’m going to be using the term “intellectually bankrupt” from now on so thank you. I like your take on looking at our societal circumstances as one of the reasons for intellectually flaccid work so i guess as much as we are asking our creatives to put in the work into their art, we should also be urging our societal leaders as a whole to confront these issues. Thank you for reading ahhh.
this was such an interesting read - I grew up in Joburg and since moving to Cape Town I have been a very active participant in the creative culture. Its so eye opening to see the fact that what is happening up in Joburg also seemingly affects the Cape Town creative community- living in echo chambers that instead of inspiring us to innovate make us spiral into normality.
I think looking at queer culture, a lot of clubs that a year or two ago were filled with predominantly queer people has now turned into clubs where straight people find a reprieve. In the actual creative community, amongst a lot of artists, there is the recycling of the same ideas- Cape Town is a very small place, going out, no matter who you meet they will know at least one person you know and this creates echo chambers where creatives start to feed off each others work and trying to fit into the systems in place instead of breaking out of them :/
This was incredibly written and very insightful, i resonated especially with the part about Dunusa Market. It is devastating and in general the state of Joburg right now. All i see is people singing praises but it feels empty, dull, lifeless now. A clean street is not worth the culture the space has curated. Anyway good job. Oh and check out @LordSanamaIsHere
a great youtuber i found that i think has a great 'why'
“Social media has intensified the formation of creative cliques; tight circles that validate one another, recycle the same references and reward conformity.”…regurgitated slop masked as communal/collective influence. This is food for thought.
The lack of focus is lack of engagement with reality - creatively bankrupt artists are so because they are “artists” first, and recede into an abstract world divorced from actual struggle. It’s just as bad in cpt. It’s an elitism thing, and the new wave of impactful and riotous art will be working class art, not hoity toity academic types…
“…individuality is traded for acceptance and the work suffers.” - THIS IS IT! Not one lie was told. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Beautiful piece!
I think capitalism will always be the villain in these scenarios. Making inspired and interrogative art makes you unpalatable for most spaces and brands which means you’re not making any money and the kind of art you’re speaking about requires time, resources and access which often needs to be bank rolled. So most creatives stay in a safe “intellectually hollow” pocket to make sure they can eat and the ones who are successful want to stay there, so they try really hard not to fuck up the bag. Making art for art’s sake is integral but it’s hard to do when you need to eat and survive
As the essay notes, “When creatives avoid political or social responsibility, it is often because critique threatens access, funding, or social capital.” While I don’t dismiss the role capitalism plays in shaping these decisions, art should not have to be emptied of substance in order to remain palatable. Much of the work being produced today is, without question, easy to consume and widely acceptable, but palatability alone is not the issue. The real absence is a sense of why. Without intention, risk, or critical grounding, the work may circulate successfully, yet it ultimately feels unresolved, prioritizing comfort over meaning.
Couldn't have said this better. It's the problem with a lot of "influencer marketing", the veneer of success, style, culture but upon further investigation - nothing of it. Brands definitely want to profiteer off of grassroots and subcultures and will invariably move on once things become 'hip' elsewhere. Always has been and probably always will. And artists are feeling that pressure, the thrust toward virality, Tik Tok relevancy and so forth. I know many such people personally and I often wonder what will happen should platforms that abide this "creative virtue signaling" ever disappear - what happens to the artists then?
“it requires an ethical commitment” - yes yes yes. You don’t have to be responsible for the message you’re sending with your art if you’ve made no commitment to making a statement.
Nor are you responsible for accurately representing your references. Though it feels more like a lack of care, this shallowness is a great way to evade accountability. Great essay!
yes yes yes ! Ultimately the easy way out.
"The problem is not a lack of talent or access, but a crisis of purpose." 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Such a great piece! 🙌🏼
thank you Nawaal 🧎🏾
I’ve thought this for a long time but didn’t know how to quite word it. Beautifully written.
This is so beautifully articulated 💐
As a 17 year old creative who is hungry to change or disrupt the landscape in creativity in South Africa,this resonated with me so much.Thank you so much
The work relies heavily on context with the mystic of their claims easily falling apart upon careful examination largely because of the superficial ideas through false stakes.
Artists fail to emotionally respond to their subjects, the works are made in boredom and intended strictly for an audience; the internet.
I often wonder what their sketchbooks look like if they keep any.
"visually polished but intellectually hollow: content that circulates well online but says very little" This right here is our main issue that I feel not just in the creative space but also in various spaces from politics, education, careers within South Africa and art. Everyone is always focused on the WHAT you have and never the why you have it and what it means to you. Our people constantly chase titles and looks like Dr or Adv or CA(SA), constantly asking for who you vote for or what church congregation you are in and never why you chose to align yourself to that space and what it means to you. I feel that due to the prolonged, chronic unemployment crisis and wealth inequality that we suffer from many people become detached to our reality and what it means to us. Art imitates Life and our creatives are the voices of our people, the voices of humanity, so to be so intellectually bankrupt is but the consequence of social failures that were never properly addressed. Sorry this is long, what you wrote really had me thinking 😭😭😭
I’m going to be using the term “intellectually bankrupt” from now on so thank you. I like your take on looking at our societal circumstances as one of the reasons for intellectually flaccid work so i guess as much as we are asking our creatives to put in the work into their art, we should also be urging our societal leaders as a whole to confront these issues. Thank you for reading ahhh.
this was such an interesting read - I grew up in Joburg and since moving to Cape Town I have been a very active participant in the creative culture. Its so eye opening to see the fact that what is happening up in Joburg also seemingly affects the Cape Town creative community- living in echo chambers that instead of inspiring us to innovate make us spiral into normality.
can’t believe the same is happening in cpt, please do tell !
I think looking at queer culture, a lot of clubs that a year or two ago were filled with predominantly queer people has now turned into clubs where straight people find a reprieve. In the actual creative community, amongst a lot of artists, there is the recycling of the same ideas- Cape Town is a very small place, going out, no matter who you meet they will know at least one person you know and this creates echo chambers where creatives start to feed off each others work and trying to fit into the systems in place instead of breaking out of them :/
TikTok lead me here 🙃
wait whattttt !?😭
The same can be said for Black African creators at large
Love this. I for one take this as a call for action. 🫱🏾🫲🏽🤟🏽🔥
Wow
This was incredibly written and very insightful, i resonated especially with the part about Dunusa Market. It is devastating and in general the state of Joburg right now. All i see is people singing praises but it feels empty, dull, lifeless now. A clean street is not worth the culture the space has curated. Anyway good job. Oh and check out @LordSanamaIsHere
a great youtuber i found that i think has a great 'why'
thank you for the recommendation, I shall check them out !
“Social media has intensified the formation of creative cliques; tight circles that validate one another, recycle the same references and reward conformity.”…regurgitated slop masked as communal/collective influence. This is food for thought.
The lack of focus is lack of engagement with reality - creatively bankrupt artists are so because they are “artists” first, and recede into an abstract world divorced from actual struggle. It’s just as bad in cpt. It’s an elitism thing, and the new wave of impactful and riotous art will be working class art, not hoity toity academic types…