All that glitters is not gold: Counter penetrating in the name of Blackness and queerness, or, Athi-Patra Ruga's camp act in the dirt

Adéle Adendorff

doi:10.17159/2617-3255/2021/n35a5

Abstract

In this article I engage South African artist Athi-Patra Ruga's artistic practice to flesh out the complexities that arise from the intersection of the terms Black and queer. Drawing on diverse historical, social and textual resources, I interpret Ruga's dismantling of dominant post-apartheid and postcolonial narratives vis-a-vis a close reading of some of his provocative avatars. Ruga's practices of staining, tainting and contaminating serve to expose the borders that produce conventional notions of race and gender. The article employs camp discourse in its allusion to performativity, displacement and artifice in order to 1) lay bare prevailing normative structures; and 2) dismantle conventional views of identity. To avoid being blindsided by camp's flamboyance and ostentation, I propose a view that favours an intimate embroilment with dirt - a stance I argue may furnish camp acts with political intent and so help create a more sophisticated and comprehensive view on the juncture of Blackness and queerness. Relying on Ruga's method of counter penetration as a way of fleshing out a hermeneutic view of Black queer subjectivity, I show how counter penetration in Ruga's estimation is a subversive and transgressive act intent on contaminating and infecting conventional narratives of history, identity and politics. Keywords: Black queer identity, camp, Athi-Patra Ruga, performance.

Highlights

A cluster of colourful balloons atop a pair of cerise pink stockinged legs, propped up by red suede stilettos, slowly ambles through the dusty street
I argue that to offer a view of camp as a critical and engaged mode of interrogation, Ruga’s exploitation of the outrageously beautiful should be navigated as part of his commitment to the threateningly objectionable abject. This hybrid act, which he channels through his strategy of counter penetration, offers a reading of complex and problematic relations that puts forward a view of Black queerness as liminal, manifold and intricate
I strain my discussions of the grimy, abject Black queer body briefly through one of camp’s most written about attributes, namely performance, as I return my thoughts to The Future White Woman of Azania

Summary

Introduction

A cluster of colourful balloons atop a pair of cerise pink stockinged legs, propped up by red suede stilettos, slowly ambles through the dusty street. This hybrid act, which he channels through his strategy of counter penetration, offers a reading of complex and problematic relations that puts forward a view of Black queerness as liminal, manifold and intricate. Counter penetration is present in a long line of Ruga’s alter egos, and most pronounced in Inj'ibhabha, Miss Congo, Beiruth, and The Future White Woman of Azania.

Results

Conclusion