Women of the City: Jason Langa and Thulani Gankca

Two new works by Artist Proof Studio students, Jason Langa and Thulani Gancka,  explore the experiences of urban woman under conditions of the Lockdown.  Each work  features a single woman of color traversing the modern city during the era of Covid-19.

Jason Langa

Umbila, 2020
Graphite and Charcoal on Paper

TLC Student Collection 2020 (South Africa)

Overview of Jason Langa: A smiling market woman holds her wares for sale in a bowl in her head, padded by a headcloth. Instead of the food one would normally expect (the title "umbila" refers to mealies or maize) her bowl is filled with the essential supplies of the Lockdown period: toilet paper, hand sanitizer, disinfectant, gloves, and masks.

Jason Langa's Artist's Statement:  Umbila pays tribute to some of South Africa’s hardest working women, who work in the informal traders’ sector, selling fresh produce. This sector has been hardest hit by the restrictions being experienced as a result of COVID-19. However, true to their resilience, they smile through it. “The woman represents all the street vendors who can no longer do business as usual. I titled the artwork “Umbila”, to further elaborate on how relatable this woman’s job is to most South African people.”

Thulani Gankca, Dark or Blue, 2020

Charcoal on stretched canvas,

84x59cm.

Overview of Thulani Gankca: A women, evidently pregnant, is seen in profile, the city skyline of Johannebsurg visible in the background. To her  left is an enigmatic shape, perhaps reminiscent of a womb or dividing cells.

Thulani Gankca's Artist’s Statement: The work speaks about determination and the will to overcome. Making efforts to truly liberate oneself from within. The artwork communicates the idea of trying to find strength, because sometimes no matter how hopeless a person’s life circumstances, there will always be a way. The Covid-19 pandemic which has been the perfect storm across the entire globe, has shifted the whole energy and put almost everything on lockdown. The same attitude of a strong willingness to make a positive intention, knowing that eventually all will get better is due time, is needed. Eminently, as it appears ‘if the sun refuses to rise, we will make it rise.’

Mark Auslander on Jason Langa: Many artists responding to the Covid-19 crisis have emphasized the heroic roles played by frontline medical workers. Here, Langa honors women laborers who hawk needed supplies in the townships. The figure smiles broadly as she looks directly at the viewer, as she offers her wares. Although the title references the word "Umbila" (mealies), the staple food which she would normally shout out, the actual contents of her bowl are the essential commodities, the new staples of our pandemic moment. 

Women have a close relationship with maize throughout southern African, as cultivators, pounders, cooks, and informal marketers, bringing the stuff of life to the entire community; she continues this life-giving role here, albeit with a new array of products.  Rather like Atlas who classically carried the world, her head supports the wider collectivity: the upright products might even be read as a small cityscape, rather like the Joburg skyline in Thulani Gankca's piece, maintained by the labor of untold thousands of women like her. 

As appealing as Langa's female figure is, it is worth noting that she and many thousands of other women street vendors in present day South Africa are distinctly under threat. They are subject to fines and arrest by police officers enforcing lockdown restrictions, and their interactions with street customers mean that they risk infection.  (Note that while she is selling a mask, she is not wearing one). Yet, for all her troubles, she shares with Gankca's figure a deep sense of rootedness in the metropolis: this is emphatically her city.

I am especially taken with the reflective qualities of the metal bowl's surface, in which we glimpse traces of her head cloth and balancing hand. The twinkle in her eyes and the brightness of her smile are echoed in the illumination from the bowl: even in these dark times, the energy of this essential laborer brings light to us all.

Pamela Allara on Thulani Gankca:  Both Jason Langa and Thulani Gankca present us with powerful portraits of women, one who is selling goods and the other, who, carrying a bag, may be on her way to shopping for them.  However, in contrast to Jason Langa’s vibrant market woman, whose friendly smile is a means of attracting customers in Johannesburg CBD’s competitive informal markets, the woman in ‘Dark or Blue’ is somber, indeed worried. With the city of Johannesburg and its township shacks far in the distance, she stands alone, with little indication of any solid ground that would permit her to maintain her balance. Unmoored and unmasked, she appears at first to be overwhelmed by anxiety. Her mental state is externalized by two elements that float around her: the flower petals that waft across her chest and the womb-like shape hovering behind her. The task of deciphering her private thoughts—be they dark (pessimistic) or blue (sad)-- will not be easy, nor should it be. In between these two motifs is a barren bush; perhaps the flowers have been blown away from this rootless plant, and are suspended between blooming and their incipient wilting. The womb shape contains not a fetus, but round cell-like forms that could indicate either coronavirus cells or, on the other hand, seeds that can be planted to bring forth new flowers. As Ganka has written, “The artwork communicates the idea of trying to find strength, because sometimes no matter how hopeless a person’s life circumstances, there will always be [a] way.” The woman’s face lit by the sun, and she looks ahead, pausing before moving on. Her sturdy, strong body has a sculptural strength that makes the distant Hillbrow Tower look fragile by comparison. Her anxiety will not in the end overwhelm her. Like her counterpart who is selling mealies, she is representative of all South African women who keep the family and the community together in spite of formidable odds.