Nicholas Hlobo in Conversation with Joost Bosland

Izinqanda mathe, 2008. Saddle, ribbon, rubber, chains. Courtesy of the artist and Michael Stevenson Gallery. Photo: Mario Todeschini. 108* N k a Journal of Contemporary African Art / -" .: .. IJ· , , , " ././~ ..., ..- . ., . . - ' .., " ... ... ' . ... . .. 0'\ ;\ 0 ( r ' . ..,(' , of ', · ' ,••. .; 1 t ' •..:., •••. • I.J • I " : ~ r,,-: ' • r ' I • • '" .. • " ' . - 0' , ~ "'£' r: -- / 111 , ' :" I. , " t- • . "~"""""'-"'" I . cv I . , _ ...._. I ~ .•~ r.-- :!.' . - - .. t ~; • f j .. - - - , . ' . ~ . , .. - ~ ~ . ~ ~ .NICHOLAS HLOBO in Conversation with JOOST BOSLAND This interview took place on the occasion of Kwatsityw'iziko, Nicholas Hlobo's second exhibition at Michael Stevenson in Cape Town. His first solo show with the gallery, Izele (2006) was, in many ways, the dream debut. It was widely praised and dominated lists of the best exhibitions of the year in the local art press. As with the musician whose first album makes a real commercial and critical impact, expectations for his second show were high, and a little daunting. That he had held successful solo exhibitions at Extraspazio in Rome and the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, in 2007, meant little to the local audience. In a way, this interview is defined by its very specific context. The works discussed all formed part of Kwatsityw'iziko, and our conversation aimed to explore the inner logic of the project. However, Hlobo's answers, and perhaps more importantly his way of speaking about his work, reveal larger truths about his approach to sculpture. The interview as a form of art criticism has become ubiquitous over the past two decades. The return of the artist's voice is laudable in general, but is specifically appropriate for an artist like Hlobo, who embues his sculptures with narrative meaning and surrounds them with an extensive personal mythology. In his world, the artist gives birth to his sculptures, and his oeuvre is his offspring. In addition to his mythology, the dialogue touches on two other defining characteristics of Hlobo's work: his use of Xhosa, his first language, and the absence of cynicism. Hlobo has consistently given his sculptures and drawings Xhosa titles. This has usually been interpreted in terms of its alienating and confrontational effect on South Africa's predominantly white art audience. This reductive analysis ignores the complexities of contemporary South Africa. Xhosa, at the sophisticated, literary level at which Hlobo employs the language, is equally inaccessible to many black South Africans for whom it is not their mother tongue (South Africa has eleven official languages). In fact, many of the references are lost even on young, educated Xhosa-speaking South Africans, whose social and professional lives are increasingly Anglophone in nature. Hlobo's use of the language is closer to some bizarre, optimistic form of twenty-first-century tribal pride, with foundations in the black pride and gay pride movements, than to a conscious attempt to alienate any specific group. Hlobo revels in the role of the teacher. His eagerness to explain his titles, and the ways in which he takes advantage of the complexities of the Xhosa language, is characterized by an almost missionary zeal. The symbiotic relationship between his works and their titles turns language into sculpture. As his international visibility increases, so does the international presence of Xhosa. On a local level, engagement with his work forces those who don't speak the language to become curious about it, and those who do to learn more about its intricacies. A good teacher can never be a cynic. It takes a certain amount of optimism or hope for the future to believe that the transfer of knowledge is a worthwhile pursuit. Hlobo knows he has something to share and believes the world will be a better place if he acts on this belief. A lot has happened since this interview. In August 2008, Hlobo had a solo show at the ICA Boston as part of their Momentum series of emerging artists. In September, his work was seen in the Guangzhou Triennial in China. At the end of October, he had a solo project at Art Forum Berlin, followed in December by a solo show in the Level 2 Gallery at Tate Modern, London. To return to the analogy of the musician, his second album lived up to the high expectations of critics, and...