Yet another sad week in the arts sector

07 Mar, 2021 - 00:03 0 Views
Yet another sad week in the arts sector Rashid M Jogee

The Sunday News

Raisedon Baya

THIS is by no means an obituary of the late Rashid M Jogee. He deserves a proper one and those who knew him better, and they are many, will definitely do one. The veteran visual artist, whose second home was probably the Art Gallery in Bulawayo, has died and was buried last week.

Rashid M Jogee was an artist extraordinaire, who, unfortunately, many did not understand. Of course, you will hear a lot about him now than you have heard before or will ever hear. That is the life of many artists; they live on the edge, in the fringes of their communities, brilliant and often ignored and even ridiculed until they die and only then do, we want to see them for who they really were.

Many people dust their memories of the artist and all of a sudden, they start singing his/her praises – how brilliant the artist was and that they are owed this and that by the community or sector. It never stops. Same story for many artists.

It is unfortunate that as a people we have come to celebrate death more than we celebrate life. Death is now like a mirror we are too comfortable to use to reflect on lives lived. Death has become that pill that softens our hearts and makes us see the good others did long back – the good we chose to ignore until the day death knocks and takes a soul. Calvin Mgcini Nhliziyo died complaining about not being seen and supported in his creatives endeavors but upon death the whole city embraced him and lifted him to hero status – an icon of the city.

It was the same with Soul Jah Love a few weeks ago. Soul Jah Love was an artist who, when alive, needed help with drugs and even his career but got nothing until death came calling. And you all know what happened after he died. He became a cult hero, even to the extent of receiving a provincial hero status and government assisted funeral. Rashid M Jogee did not get that hero status, or a state funeral but he was master at what he did.

We should do better as a sector. And do better as a people. Let us have a culture of celebrating our people when they are still alive; giving them flowers when they still can smell them and say thank you.

This waiting until someone is dead and them screaming at the top our voices about their talents and their contribution to the sector is nothing. It becomes more about us than the artist who will have gone. I think we can do better. Let us do better. I also think as a sector we are also guilty of calling everyone a genius, a hero or a legend.

There is nothing wrong in calling each other that, however, the downside of this is that when a true genius or hero or legend comes along the words will have been watered down to mean nothing. Sometimes it becomes even a joke to call a true genius a genius when all along you have been using it to describe lesser mortals.

But was Rashid M Jogee a hero who deserved provincial or national recognition? Probably, not. He went to war and may have been on the wrong side then. But was he a genius? The answer to this question lies in his work. And how many of us have seen it and even understood it?

Those that know art and have come across his paintings say he was nothing short of brilliant. A crazy genius who unfortunately was not celebrated when still alive. It is our hope now that perhaps the Gallery in Bulawayo, and even nationally, can host a solo exhibition of his work as part of celebrating his creative life.

It is said true artists never die as they continue to live through their works. Rashid M. Jogee will forever live through his numerous pieces in galleries and home across the world.

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