Incubation Paper

Incubators of Creativity

As written about in a multitude of text, the artist has a transient yet highly integral roll within our societies of history and the present culture we are immersed in today. In a sense the artist can be seen as an explorer of many and all things, in persistent inquiry and documentation the many complex facets of our “world” with no intentions or reason for requiring a definitive answer. Where the Philosopher asks, and the Scientist answers, the Artist is there to explore with limited only to the restraints of ones own humanness.

I myself identify the “roll” or “term” artist as an inherent attribute of my own humanity, and let this not just be limited for myself. To be an artist is no different than what it is to be a brother, friend, neighbor, and a human. It is a natural term for ones innate sense to explore, question, and evoke dialogue in a multitude of complexities. It is in the how you conduct ones self-inherent attribute of artistry that defines the roll you have within society. For me it is one of time spent and social community, and often the active documentation and exploration of the beautiful people I call brothers and sisters, among the familiar strangers I interact with daily for but multitudes of a second. I seek to explore my own personal humanity in its entirety, and siphon this visual dialogue into one that I can share within my close-knit community. I can always be found sitting in the red dirt of the Gauteng with my brothers Bafana and Zola, or in the dungy basements of Chicago venues among neighbors before being trapped within the confines of a studio.

I have come to question the accepted practice of art making, and the restrictions and confines that have often been placed upon it. Why then must I explore and create within the studio instead of right there on the streets of Mamelodi. Even furthering that notion, why must I physically create when all my value is placed within my community and those lives around me? If not even more so, where does my inherent nature as an artist fit into my community and hopes for the more permanent life I see ahead in South Africa. Just as in ecosystem’s, within these complex communities we must realize that “every last particle, person, contributes in some way to the health of the thriving ecosystem, community.” That is why I am in incubation here in this season in Chicago, so that I may be humble and ready to listen to learn my place and contribution to the family and community of who has committed relationship to me and me to them.

The Experimental Station is quite phenomenal in how it works, really embracing the idea of the “artist” as an inherent and unlimited human trait and giving room for its entire exploration. In my opinion, much to the same likeness, the best place to start is a place in which the community can come together under one roof and just break bread among one another’s company. The act of sharing a meal and spending ones time on one another can cause such powerful and deep routed paradigm shifts. This too should not be limited to a necessary set date or scheduled event, but a roof that one can always life and its simple pleasures with one another. The idea of creating a space not limited to location is also important. A community of artist is but a synonym for a community in and of itself, and any family of people need a lack of regulations to organically grow and progress in a direction that betters the quality of life and serves to further build those foundational relationships.

That becomes the core, something I can emphasize enough, the relationships formed and built. It is in these that we can regain lost identity and self sustaining food through the planting of a tree, it is through these that a kid promised nothing can work his way through a bike shop to higher employment to seek education, it is through these that Nellmapius and Mamelodi, not the location but the people, can strop striving and start thriving in an abundance of wealth. Make also note not to limit wealth to that of western dollars and material possession, but that to a sustaining quality of health, life, joy, spirit, and relationships within these beautiful communities, some of which I call home. And at its core is a commitment to relationship, to friendship, to community. This commitment is to love in an agape sense, to be willing to humbly self-sacrifice to see that of a friend’s gain, to realize that in relationship you are obligated to build into one another. It is in this commitment that nonsensical and beautifully backwards actions can take place, and suddenly a community of people arise that defy logic and seek to progress one another even at self-loss. This is the family I am committed to, the one for whom can grow a thriving tree out of commonly spoken dead soil.

Needless to say, I find it hard to define my “ideal” incubation center into adjectives, descriptors, and pre-planned structure. Instead my vision lies within the people and committed relationships, and creating an organic and ever changing place that seeks to transcend the location and departments within it into something that fully embodies the community itself, especially the one I call home.