We tend to associate imagination, creativity and playfulness with childhood. Adulthood is for serious business: productivity, consumption, reproduction. Following these assumptions, however, there is a risk that artistic practice becomes seen as part of a developmental stage — something that most people put aside when they grow up.
The implication of this logic is that artists are childlike. Their work may be valued, and in fact very valuable, but they are infantilised. In SA, this problem is not helped by the fact that government representatives and leaders in the arts have over the years acted like children themselves: getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar, displaying petulance, throwing tantrums, wanting to show off to their friends. Our current sports, arts & culture minister has thrown in some grown-up bigotry for good measure...
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