Today’s featured artist for the UJ Art Gallery’s CURE project is visual artist, Songezile Madikida. The video,” Blood on my hands”, was part of an exhibition titled Liminal States in 2004. Liminality, “being on a threshold,” is the condition that occurs during the inner phase of rites of passage, in relation to the rituals performed in many societies to transfer a person from one stage of life to another. How appropriate is such a phrase in the context of the current pandemic, where everything that we take for granted has been suspended. A state in which we are not sure whether we are here or there, sick or well, dead or alive.
The term, Blood on my Hands on the other hand is normally used to acknowledge one’s complicity and contribution to an adverse or lethal condition. I used this commonly used expression as a title to highlight our own complicity, as society, to our own undoing and demise. The song by Nathi also speaks of a long wait and a need to reconcile with a loved one. He seems to have tried everything but to no avail, his lover has disappeared or has abandoned him.
About Songezile Madikida
Songezile Madikida, was born on 25 March 1973 in the Eastern Cape and is currently teaching Art History and Visual Culture at Rhodes University.
#CURE
#CloseToHeART
#UJChoir