Art Must Take Sides
Art for art’s sake is an illusion. Art must have a goal. Art must have an agenda — whatever that agenda may be.
July 18th was Mandela Day — a day dedicated to celebrating the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela. On that day, I listened to Brenda Fassie’s “Black President.” It was a song released in 1990. At the time, apartheid still held sway. Although Mandela would be released that same year, no one yet knew what the future would hold.
“Black President” was a song of defiance. It was an insult to the face of apartheid. It cemented Brenda’s status as an icon of the freedom struggle.
The very fact that she dared to imagine a Black president during an era of censorship and white dominance was bold. But that song wasn’t Brenda’s first foray into activism through music. In 1989, she had released another song: Too Late For Mama.
In Too Late For Mama, Brenda humanized the struggle of Black South Africans through the life of a rural woman. She described the poverty, the neglect, and the discrimination that “Mama” faced. Brenda’s Mama was not one individual — she was the life of millions of women in South Africa.
Brenda was an activist. Her tool was her music. She was talented, but talent wasn’t the point. The point was using her tool to speak for her people and fight the system that had kept them down for so many years. In short, her music was a product of conviction. She wasn’t making music for music’s sake. It was music with a purpose. Music with a goal. Music with a mission. Music with an agenda.
Some friends and I have been part of that ageless debate: whether we should do art for art’s sake. Some years ago, I used to hold the opinion that we should do more of that. I used to say that art for art’s sake was important for the progress of society. My views have shifted.
Art for art’s sake is an illusion. Art must have a goal. Art must have an agenda — whatever that agenda may be.
As I reflected on Brenda’s Black President, I realized something: art for art’s sake is a betrayal of conviction and belief. The man who says he wants to do art for art’s sake is either a man who believes in nothing, or a man who is afraid to express what he truly believes.
Moreover, especially as a Nigerian, considering the realities of systemic inequality, poverty, illiteracy, and the abuse of religion and politics, it is folly to say I can be indifferent. We cannot afford to be indifferent. We cannot afford to be apolitical. We cannot afford to be irreligious. We cannot afford to be indecisive.
Another thing that came to mind was that the best writers I’ve ever enjoyed were not writers creating for writing’s sake, but writers with a purpose. Take Voltaire. Voltaire was not an indifferent man. He saw himself as a weapon against the darkness of religious and political abuse. For him, writing could not be neutral. He couldn’t write for writing’s sake. He had to write to tear down the structures that had held his society back.
C.S. Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia because he believed in something — and he wanted to share that belief with the world. The Problem of Pain, The Screwtape Letters, and Mere Christianity were not mere words. They were the outpouring of a conviction that refused to be silenced.
It was the same with Brenda Fassie. The same with Desmond Tutu’s sermons. The same with Steve Biko’s life.
So, as you write today, as you paint today, as you dance today, as you create today — don’t be indifferent.
Stand for something.
Create for something.
Paint for something.
Dance for something.
Write for something.