certified original film prop (District 9, dir. Neill Blomkamp, 2009) steel nails and epoxy

Artwork date: 2011
Exhibited: Stevenson, Johannesburg, Entertainment, 26 May to 1 July 2011. Art Basel Miami Beach, 1 to 4 December 2011.
Literature: MacGarry, M. (2001). The other half: past and future now. Cape Town: Stevenson, colour illustration on p.3.

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135 x 46 x 21 cm

Notes:

The nkisi nkondi figures of the BaKongo peoples of the DRC (sometimes referred to as ‘fetishes’ in the western literature) are sacred containers of supernatural forces that can potentially be summoned into the physical world. In this work Michael MacGarry is directly alluding to these minkisi and the power they have to unleash either positive or negative energy, through the insertion of nails or blades into the sculptures. In fact MacGarry’s long-standing interest in the aesthetic of the assault rifle with similar insertions has been seen in numerous works since his 2008 sculpture series, Fetish (MacGarry, 2010).

Private Grammar II initially saw use as a prop in the 2009 movie District 9, just as many other of MacGarry’s adapted weapons have been used in his own films. In some ways the use of the artwork in this way is another act of activation, just as the driving of a nail into an nkisi seeks to do the same. As the artist notes ‘My ongoing interest and investigation in to the role of the AK-47 assault rifle within the context of the African continent, sits within the broader field of querying a multitude of other forms of imported commodities, cultural products, political ideologies and socio-economic policies that litter the landscape of far too many nationstates within the continent like beached ships.’ (Breukel, 2011)

Thus one may see Private Grammar II as a talismanic power object describing a state that might yet come as much as one that exists in the present. Its potential for direct violence may have been, in one way, deactivated but in so doing, it offers a sinister promise of other violences still to come.

Andrew Lamprecht

Exhibited:

Entertainment (solo show), STEVENSON, Johannesburg (26 May - 1 July 2011)

Art Basel Miami Beach, 2011

Sources:

Breukel, C. (2011). District 9 Movie Prop As African Fetish Object. [online] Hyperallergic. Available at: http://hyperallergic.com/42366/district-9-movie-prop-african-fetish-object [Accessed 30 August 2016].

MacGarry, M. (2010). Endgame: Standard Bank young artist award 2010. Johannesburg: All Theory, No Practice, pp. 64-67.

MacGarry, M. (2012). The other half: past and future now. Cape Town: Stevenson, p. 3 (illustrated).