2016 – when politics got naked
What do Jacob Zuma‚ Mmusi Maimane‚ Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton all have in common? They’ve all been portrayed in artistic nudes.
The Emperor Has No Balls
An American artists’ collective created a series of nude statues of Donald Trump‚ which drew curious onlookers in the US.
"These fleeting installations represent this fleeting nightmare and in the fall‚ it is our wish to look back and laugh at Donald Trump's failed and delusional quest to obtain the presidency‚" INDECLINE‚ the artists behind the statues‚ said in a statement.
They proved less than prophetic however – Trump ended up winning the most electoral college votes and is now set to take the presidency.
Freedom of speech?
Twenty seven year old artist Anthony Scioli responded to the Trump statue‚ by creating one of a hooved Hillary Clinton.
While the Trump statue in New York was greeted with giggles until it got taken down by the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation‚ the Clinton statue received a much more passionate response.
According to the New York Daily News‚ people toppled the artwork and one witness claimed that a woman was assaulting anybody who tried to put it back up.
Officers from a counter-terrorism unit ordered Scioli to dismantle the statue.
The Pornography of Power
Ayanda Mabulu portrayed President Jacob Zuma engaged in annalingus with the Gupta family‚ proclaiming that his work reflected the truth about South African society.
"I am talking about being f****d. We are being f****d by parliamentarians‚ we are being molested‚" Mabulu said.
The ANC wasn’t particularly charmed by the artwork.
ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa declared it to be an abuse of freedom of speech‚ and a “blatant violation of the right to dignity of those portrayed”.
But Zuma wasn’t the only South African politician to get drawn in the buff this year.
Kenny Kunene has weird taste
Kenny Kunene tweeted an artwork which showed DA leader Mmusi Maimane as a nude slave pulling an also nude Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and DA federal executive chairperson James Selfe in a cart.
"I am now a proud owner of this masterpiece. Powerful storytelling through art. Thanks to the fearless artist‚" Kunene wrote.
He apparently put it up in his bedroom‚ so he could wake up to it every morning.
While initially people thought the artist might have been Ayanda Mabulu‚ it turned out to be Iven Amali.
The response to the artwork mostly appeared to be to call Kunene an attention seeker‚ with Zille dismissing the work by saying‚ “Who cares?” - TMG Digital