C O N T ESTED STATUES A R E V I E W O F ‘ M A N O F WA R : L E AV E M Y H O U S E ’ AT T H E G O E T H E - I N ST I T U T, WINDHOEK Words by Bayron van Wyk Images by Nicola Brandt
On the evening of 10 March 2023, the Man of War: Leave My House exhibition was held at the Goethe-Institut, Windhoek. The exhibition consisted of a video work, a research wall, and a series of photographs loosely arranged into three chapters: ‘When The Land Speaks’ – a series of earlier works by the artist Nicola Brandt capturing the changing memoryscape of Namibia; ‘Practices Of Self,’ a performance intervention by the artists Gift Uzera, Nicola Brandt, and Muningandu Hoveka on the day a German colonial monument was removed in the CBD; and lastly, a series of photographs from Drag Night and the recent intersectional activist marches in the city. Windhoek’s popular drag performances at Café Prestige have become a main attraction of the city’s buzzing queer scene. In one of the photos a crowd of protestors can be seen marching up to the Christuskirche, a church constructed during the German colonial period. One of the protestors holds a Rainbow flag high up in the sky. On the adjacent wall facing the video is a research panel consisting of recent images and news clippings regarding the debate around problematic monuments in the country. At the opening, a group of some fifty guests were invited into the Goethe’s auditorium to view a video with the same title as the exhibition, followed by a performance reading by Gift Uzera and a fire-side discussion with the artists, audience, and guest speaker – the activist and curator – Hildegard Titus. The performances as embodying acts of resistance In one of the opening scenes of the approximately eight-minute video, Gift Uzera and Muningand Hoveka stride towards the colonial statue of the German general Curt von François (1852-1931). Hoveka is dressed in a shimmering green Herero dress, while Gift is in a blue undergarment. (Several undergarments are traditionally worn under the Herero dress to give volume to the attire.) Playing in the background of the video is a song composed by the sound and performance artist Hoveka. The haunting central chord in Omurumendu wovita nga pite mo jandje is a plea for ‘the man of war’ to depart – ‘the man of war needs to leave my house’. The lyrics are clearly directed towards the figure of von François is widely known for his brutal legacy during German colonial occupation. The central chord also speaks to something more contemporary: to the presence of toxic and violent patriarchy in contemporary Namibia. The country has an astonishingly high rate of gender-based violence, rape and femicide. In a subsequent scene, Uzera and Hoveka climb on top of the statue and engage in embodied movements inspired by the customary Herero rituals known as Outjina – traditionally performed by women, and Omuhiva, performed by men. These hand