“With all the beauty that was surrounding me growing up: Boom Shaka, Brenda Fassie, Simon Nkoli and many more working to have the words LGBTQ+, gay and lesbian enshrined in the Constitution, I found that the decision to become an artist at a time when there was so much positivity and boundlessness surrounding the visual arts was an easy one,” shares Athi-Patra in an eloquent burst of speech when asked why he first delved into the South African creative sphere which he has now come to own.
Athi-Patra presents as a man who has not only taken hold of his future and used his artistic abilities to fly himself to world renown but also as a man who is grounded by the realities of the stories of those who came before him – whether writer, artist, dancer, singer or designer – and how that has shaped who he was able to become as a Black artist on the rise in post-2000 South Africa. This is the basis for why he creates the kind of work he shares with the world.
“I understand that I come from a Blackness whereby the only images that I saw of my grandparents were in Dompasses,” laments Ruga before swiftly moving into how South Africa’s historic conservative societal views being challenged helped shape his later works. “This was also the time when Mandela was against ‘young girls dancing like this’ when faced with the generative pushback in music videos by the youth culture which was newly liberated. This was when I knew that there was art for expression, even at 13, I just knew that I wanted to document the Gay and Black experience.”
Amadoda on the Verge… is an exploration of Black masculinity through historical context, something Ruga has worked to embody in most of his art, including in his work with fashion house Christian Dior upon being commissioned to create a masterpiece Lady Dior bag for the brand in 2019.
“I am a fashion boffin and the first thing you learn in fashion school is the date 1947, which is the birth of Dior’s New Look which was pivotal in post-war visual arts and fashion. When I got the phone call to collaborate with Dior, I thought ‘Definitely we’re doing it!’ This is the crown jewel of all of haute couture. This made me feel like ‘if it is meant for you, it will come to you’ because I had left fashion years ago,” shares Athi on his past as an award-winning fashion designer before his venture into the arts.
I had experience in tactility and high craftsmanship from my time in fashion and though what brought Dior to me was my meticulous work with tapestries and sculpture, I felt prepared for the task at hand through my greater experience.”
The Dior team met with Athi in South Africa and his vision for the bag which embodies his ethos came to life. “I challenged the Dior team because they were on my turf. I used the faces of my sculptures, which are self-portraits, as the centre of the bag. We then beaded this face with pearls and more. The Dior team came and excelled in creating this.
I was highly inspired by the scalloping of the archived Dior Junon dress when creating the second bag, and I had flown to Paris to go through their archive when envisioning how to meld my work with Dior’s. I think the politics of taking my face and placing it on a Dior bag is as lionised as I will get!”
Art is socio-political for the artist who creates works that speak to the cultural and racial diversity of South Africa and the creative youth who have so much to share from their experiences in these spaces.
