Dumile Fena: Eloquent voice against apartheid

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The South African revolution lost a powerful and eloquent voice with the death of Dumile Feni. Mhlaba Zwelidumile Mgxaji Feni died young, only 52 years old, on Oct. 16 in New York City. His life had been bound up in the struggle against apartheid, and revealed much that was both tragic and heroic for artists who use their talents in the struggle for human liberation.

Dumile's art contained many influences that seemed to transcend time. He often told how he was inspired to make art by the cave paintings of his ancestors, which his mother had revealed to him when he was a child.

Later he was to study and learn of the great civilizations, and their culture, that had flourished in Southern Africa. He learned to cast sculpture in Johannesburg, where he was also exposed to Western European art. When he went into exile, he studied the art of Europe and America in a more formal way, and was involved in music and film making. Among his friends, acquaintances, and influences were artists like Abdullah Ibrahim, Hugh Masakela, and Spike Lee. And so, within his short life were compressed influences spanning centuries.

Dumile was an implacable foe of apartheid and injustice for his entire life. Because of his artistic and political efforts, he was hounded by the South African government and police. He was arrested many times and spent years in prison. He was repeatedly beaten, and suffered hearing loss and other permanent damage that contributed to his already ill health.

Dumile was forced to flee South Africa in the late 1960s and lived in exile in London, making art while he continued to suffer from diabetes and asthma. He worked there for 11 years before coming to the United States, living for a short time in California and then settling in New York, where he remained until his death.

Dumile was an accomplished graphic artist and draftsman, and created many fine drawings. But it was as a sculptor that he excelled. His sculptures seemed to contain within them the strength of an entire people. The works transcend their small size with a monumental quality.

Though the sculptures were meant to be cast in bronze, he was never able to raise the money for that expensive procedure. So they remained as they had been, molded in black clay. Economic in form, symbolic in nature, totally stable and centered, it was a profoundly African art.

I met and worked closely with Dumile when I designed and directed the Pathfinder Mural Project. Dumile was invited, on behalf of the African National Congress, to paint one of the central figures of the mural, that of Nelson Mandela.

Dumile struggled with his painting over many weeks in the cold weather. He was demanding of those around him, but mostly towards himself. We would sit across the street, continuously appraising the work, discussing, then plunging in anew. He took great pride in his work; in his heart he felt he was painting for his people as well as for himself.

Dumile was not primarily a painter, but became so absorbed in the medium that he made plans to go back to school to study painting. He was always seeking ways to improve his work.

Unfortunately, as the project was nearing completion, the mural was subjected to censorship from Pathfinder's directors, the leadership of the Socialist Workers Party. The SWP leaders began to demand that the artmaking be directed by party officials, often leading to bizarre demands regarding head sizes, colors, etc.

(When I wrote a document critical of this policy, I was expelled by the central leadership of the party. The history of the mural was then rewritten to exclude all mention of my participation in the project.)

Dumile was opposed to this censorship on principle. He refused to be demoralized by the censors and, much to his credit, was one of the artists who helped to see the project through to completion.

Later, he became one of the initiators of Art/Work, an organization of artists and activists that organizes in support of working-class struggles and opposes censorship from any source. Declining health prevented him from joining us on such projects as brigades to the Pittston Coal Mine Strikers, but he never failed in his political support.

Dumile Feni was the victim of apartheid and the criminal policies of the U.S. government. But he made important contributions to their destruction. Not only his art has inspired us, but the example of his life. In a time when the ruling class promotes artists interested only in self-enrichment and personal comfort, Dumile shrugged off such concerns. He steadfastly kept to the task of exposing truth through his art.

Dumile was one of those individuals who possess such dignity that they seem to transcend their impoverished surroundings He was contemptuous of artists who sought only to profit, of pompous critics writing to confuse, and of party officials abusing their authority.

Pathfinder Press has announced they are building a memorial to Feni, and have begun to promote him in death. This may be commendable, but it would be far better to honor Dumile by promoting the truth. Dumile never wavered from that notion; he remained true to the struggle, to himself, and to his art. His life now becomes part of our collective consciousness, as we move on to struggle and create anew.