MyWeku

Fans of Gor Soudan, a photography/painting artist, have been waiting for a few months now for his much touted exhibition, Tomorrows’ Headlines – Tale from a Post Colonial Conflict Zone. The exhibition which is curated by Jimmy Ogonga opens on 14th April at the French Cultural Center, Nairobi, Kenya. Tomorrows’ headlines is an installation which seeks to steer the audience past the sensationalist imagery of the wild-eyed, machete wielding gangster into a realm where the ‘unbearable truth’ is confronted within a post conflict zone.

For modern African societies, youth violence/ gangsterism is an issue pending solution. It requires awareness for the genuine issues which manifest as relentless crime, especially in urban and peri-urban areas- It requires the society to embark on a deep journey into its own psyche in a bid to unravel the causal subject.

Tomorrow’s headlines through a visual creation and debate expresses the current Kenyan society (in a theme of denial, repression, projection) as a conflicted psyche which needs to transcend to a post-conflict zone where salient episteme are recognized. Consider the society of Kenya as an individual, a person. His tragic reality is to relive his nightmarish history; the emancipation from colonialism he fought for was all but a short lived dream, usurped by African Elite-Barons, bent on keeping him down.

The individual suffers to cope, but the reality of his promethean existence has resulted in erratic psychotic breaks and has increasingly growing violent- ethnic strife, criminality; manifest principally among the youth, naturally, as they are the more vigorous and restless section of the society. In a context which is persistently impeding access to more conventional avenues to self-actualization, the youth are resorting to anti-social means- Gangsterism! Even though this discourse highlights the more familiar Mungiki gang, alarmingly, there are more than forty youth gangs and vigilante groups in commission all over the country.

The transition from colonialism to the current situation has concentrated the bulk of national resources in the hands of only 10 % of the population (neo-barons). Consider that the total population of Kenya is estimated at 35 million, 75% of which is below the age of 30. 38% of the population is youth aged 15-35 years. 76% of the youth are unemployed-this garish demographic reality has resulted in a circumstance where youth are balking against a system which has consistently failed them.

Ideally, the media in the modern society ought to be an independent platform upon which these issues are highlighted then critically examined. However, in the contemporary Kenyan society, the industry is effectively owned and controlled by the Barons; accordingly it has emerged as the theatre upon which our conflicted societal psyche is played out. No where are the Denial, Repression and Projection more evident than on the news stands. There is a lack of representation of the genuine issues affecting the plebeians (the bulk of which is the youth). Their voice is stifled; the youth cannot be heard even if he tried with all his violence.

Issues are either systematically disqualified as valid by an oppressive system, or are ironically distorted by the media. Either way, they are trapped in a violent paradox. In this sense, the media is neither impartial, nor a space to acknowledge the underlying issues relating to place of the youth in the society, but a means to misrepresent a pathetic reality. Sensationalist headlines and graphic images through which the media account the tale of the Mungiki and other gangs become a decoy from confronting the genuine underlying issues that continue to fan thuggery and gangsterism among the youth. Walter Lippman, a journalist says, “The news and truth are not the same thing”.

Photo Courtesy: Gor Soudan ©

From: Tomorrows’ Headlines Exhibition