Ozhope brings poignant masks

As the Covid -9 deaths rose in Malawi earlier this year, a picture of a sole demonstrator wearing a gas mask went viral on social media. The message was asking companies to donate towards the citizen initiative to buy hospital equipment. With the public uproar, commercial banks, mobile phone operators and other corporate citizens started donating. KONDWANI KAMIYALA tracked the creators of the masked demonstrator. The team maintains they want to remain anonymous. EXCERPTS:

Q

: What is the idea behind the Ozhope Collective?

A

: “Ozhope” is an adoption and adaptation of the Yao word “wosope” (all of them). We are a group of free-minded individuals producing collaborative art. The collaboration is both within the group and, most importantly, with ordinary people out there.

Q

:When did the first piece become public? What was it about?

A

: We take it you are referring to our current project where we produce Covid-19 themed memes. We believe you would benefit from a brief background. Our current project, funded by ProHelvetia, aims to inspire critical insights into how as a country we have handled the Covid-19 pandemic so far. The memes we produce are just a single aspect of this project. Our first meme became public on January 19 2021 and it is a reworking of the Covid-19 daily updates that are shared by the Ministry of Health. Much as those daily updates are vital in updating the nation on the state of the pandemic, we think at some point they became a scary tool especially when the pandemic spiked. The update peddled a lot of fear in our opinion. What was also needed at that time was a narrative of hope and encouragement. We thus decided to change that narrative by substituting the figures in the update with words of hope, encouragement, and general advice regarding the pandemic.

Q

: One of your pieces, calling on corporate citizens to contribute to the fight against Covid-19 led to the companies donating. Is this the only time your art has brought such a reaction? How did you feel after such a reaction?

A

: This is not the only time, neither is it the first time. We have produced art before that has ignited meaningful conversations locally and internationally, for example, our work on environmental implications of oil exploration on Lake Malawi. This time around, we cannot categorically claim that those companies donated after and because of our intervention. If that’s indeed the case, well, that is awesome because it is a fulfilment of our mission: to produce art that inspires conversations and moves things; art that is part of the people’s daily conversations.

Q

: At times, you have brought a theme with several works. Like the one with characters with placards Oil, Coil, Broil…. in the lake. How effective is it when you use several works on one theme?

A

: The idea really is to create a narrative where repetition works for emphasis.

Q

: Some would think the works are just for fun. What would you tell them?

A

:Art is a serious business because art deals with serious matters of society. Also just to note that when something is done for fun or in a funny way it doesn’t mean it is not serious. That is a very wrong conception about art generally that we have a society. Art is both seriously playful and playfully serious. In our case, there is a particular mission that our art pursues and we are dealing with very serious matters of society using the nature of everyday communication and language.

Q

: Your works are spread via social media. How vital is it to send the message across electronically?

A

: The Internet in general and social media in particular, has revolutionalised the way art is produced and experienced in the world today. Social media allows us to reach our targeted audience (both local and international) easier, faster, and effectively. 

Q

: How does the future look?

A

: The future is promising. We hope to make more art that inspires conversations around issues that affect people’s everyday lives.

Q

: How much business have you lost during this period?

A

: We have lost a lot in terms of monetary and human resources. Monetary wise, we have lost millions. Many of our employees have lost jobs, many bars have completely closed down due to failure to pay rentals, utility bills such as water and electricity have been disconnected in many business places. We are that desperate!