Umkhonto We Sizwe Amandla is a painting by David G Wilson which was uploaded on March 31st, 2009.
Umkhonto We Sizwe Amandla
In the United States, the white picket fence represented the American dream, but in South Africa, it represented the African nightmare - APART - HATE... more
Original - Not For Sale
Price
Not Specified
Dimensions
35.000 x 35.000 inches
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Title
Umkhonto We Sizwe Amandla
Artist
David G Wilson
Medium
Painting
Description
In the United States, the white picket fence represented the American dream, but in South Africa, it represented the African nightmare - APART - HATE (Apartheid).
�Umkhonto We Siswe� is the motto of the African National Congress, the organization to which Nelson Mandela belonged. It means: �Spear of the Nation.� I remember the day when Nelson Mandela was released from prison because I followed the entire day�s proceedings on television in NYC where I have lived from 1976. I am originally from the Caribbean, The Commonwealth of Dominica, to be more specific. �Amandla� was the first word I ever heard Mr. Mandela utter when he was released from prison in 1990.
At the time of Mr. Mandela�s release, the popular dance in South Africa was the Toi Toi dance in which the dancers would raise their legs alternatively, in a stamping motion, as if in defiance of the oppressive Apartheid System that had terrorized them for so long. So, one sees the two dancers performing the Toi Toi dance as they wave the flag of the African National Congress and the Pan African flag. They dance in the street in protest of the Apartheid laws as they pass the white picket fences which, in America, are a sign of individual progress. However, for them, it was more of a nightmare. In the USA, the white picket fence represents
�The American dream,� - owning one�s own home. However, in South Africa, the white picket fence was the African nightmare. The fence represents the divisions along the lines of race, thus creating Apartheid or �APART- HATE� - People kept apart through Hate (That�s my personal meaning of it). �APART-HATE� is what the word sounds like when the South Africans say it. And that is what it means to me. Together the dancers and the houses represent the image of Mr. Mandela, magnanimous with his smile as he bears no ill feelings for his long incarceration and sees it as the price that he had to pay for the freedom of his people. So he smiles. The smile represents the true Christian aspect of forgiveness.
© David G. Wilson
Uploaded
March 31st, 2009
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Comments (10)
Lorna Lorraine
As clever as your Art is, the statement serves as a very edifying complement to it...