ONE is turning to its community of artists, friends, members and staff for their top picks on creative works that have enhanced their knowledge and understanding of the richness of African culture and arts. Today we have a recommendation from Peter Griesar.
As an American teenager in the 1980′s the issue of apartheid loomed large, and related themes found their way from the news into the popular music and arts of the time. But I didn’t really begin to understand it until I saw Blood Knot by South African playwright Athol Fugard in 1986.
Fugard had opened the 2 man show in 1961 Johannesburg – but only once. Soon afterward the anti-apartheid call caused many artists, including Fugard, to boycott working in their home country.
In retrospect it is hard to believe 25 years of apartheid passed between the play’s debut and the revival I saw in 1986. But then, and still now, Fugard’s work holds up. And it is a stark reminder to those of us who fight for justice that change comes, but slowly.
-Peter Griesar