- Also read: An interview with Alex Dodd
- Also read: An interview with Edward Tsumele
Hans Pienaar asked Marilyn Martin about her view regarding the removal of artworks at the University of Cape Town and here is her response.
This is the price we pay for living in a society that is visually illiterate. Unless you have attended a school or university and obtained formal education in the visual arts, or you have empowered yourself by reading about and looking at art, you are one of the millions – at all levels of society and across our complex demographics – of the visually illiterate. The “great living leveller” we may call it. So the problem needs to be addressed at junior school – not only with regard to the visual arts, but with regard to all the arts.
Commenting on the furore and actions around the Rhodes statue at UCT, David Goldblatt’s interest in human values, the clarity of his voice and wise words spring to mind (an interview with Jeremy Kuper, 2015: “The structures that David Goldblatt values”, available here.
I applaud the sudden awareness that lies behind this, that statues actually have significance. They are not simply blocks of stone, granite or whatever … But I am totally opposed to the kind of direct action that was taken in Cape Town and now in other places. It precludes discussion and I think a democracy is based on the idea that when you have differences you can talk about it … it’s fundamental … That students threw shit over Cecil John Rhodes is a very important and significant event. The significance lies in asking what values were they expressing in those actions. Get to grips with those and I think you’re beginning to understand some of the forces at work in this country.
Let’s keep this in mind when we consider the current situation at UCT and the questions that require responses.
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