Baba is a cultural movement that started in 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa. the term Baba originates from the South African colonial language Afrikaans; its direct translation is baby. the movement is best known for its visual artworks and writings. Artists painted calming, innocent scenes, sometimes with photographic precision, creating strange worlds or narratives from everyday objects and life that portray innocence and purity, and developing painting techniques that allowed innocence and idealistic world views to be expressed. Its aim was, according to Pretorius, to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of life and the reality in South Africa and around the world relating to the political and social climate of the time. the works generally portray an idealistic version of the world, a super-reality", or perfect world.this is an attempt at educating and opening up conversations about how we live our everyday lives relating to race politics gender sexuality, white femanism extra.
Works of Baba feature the element of innocence, unexpected juxtapositions and softness in colour and visuals; however, many Baba artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the hardship and struggles of that time first and foremost, with the works being a political statement. Leader Rowan was explicit in his assertion that Baba was, above all, a revolutionary movement.
Baba developed out of the apartheid regimes lasting effects activities during protests of 2019 and the most important center of the movement was Cape Town. From the 2010′s onward, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film, and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy, and social theory.
Babas main aim was to capture the purest forms of what we know, the most innocent, caring, non problematic, and beautiful aspects of today to perpetuate the importance of change within society to create an idealistic world that some could learn and follow to create a better space for minority and vulnerable groups of society such as people of colour, queers, disabled and many more members of society. some of the works are quite daring and could be confronting but its all in the name of progression and confronting the negative. some artists within the movement of Baba such as Jade Pretorius take these ideas too far and begin to create an impossible idealistic view of the world which is completely unattainable but still part of the movement as it shows how far we as a society are from progression and perfection. no matter what the work must be visually pleasing.
colour within Baba is majority pastels, and bright, calm, fleshy tones because of the fact that its very whitewashed in the way that the movement doesn't want to be too confronting and remain as palatable to problematic people as possible.
water colour, acrylic and pen
photography and digital collage
photography and photoshop
no homo bro was created by an anonymous artist two years after the movement originated. the work is very much inspired by Tabita Rezaire; she is also a perfect example of Baba and what it stands for. This work aims to shed light on toxic masculinity and how people seem to think the idea of male to male affection is automatically homosexual behaviour and there for bad. where as in an idealistic world men would realise that love and affection in some form not always sexual is natural and a necessity for survival in not only our species but in most regardless of gender. it also speaks on the struggle of homosexuality within muslim and other cultures in this piece the artist has included a muslim woman in traditional dress because they live and are from a muslim background. the term “no homo” originates from toxic masculinity and the culture they perpetuate constantly re affirming that they are not gay and are fearful of being perceived that way. in more recent years within queer culture the term is now being used in a more playful sarcastic manner to reclaim it. the colour pallet fits perfectly into the Baba rules as it consists of soft pleasing colours along with fleshy tones. the woman featured in the corner reflects the sexualisation of woman not only in straight culture on social media but as well as a representation of closeted gays forcing themselves to conform and be with woman which their social environments imply they should be with. the aspect of “dudes be like” is a clear reference to meme culture from the time of the work being created also drawing light to male domination in society along with queer ales swell and allows the viewer to not separate straight males from queer males and rather see them harmoniously as one would in an idealistic world rather than alienating them. the artists statutes that “the hearts above the married couples heads being green symbolises the fact that their union is completely natural” and is a pure form of love (another idealistic aspect the work). some might not consider the work to be a perfect example of Baba because of the fact that problematic aspects such as the term “no homo” are included in the work but ultimately it speaks to the issues in an idealistic beautiful childlike way. the way in which its been edited is in a more childlike “non professional way” which perpetuates the entire meaning of Baba’s innocent outlook on the world.
Over all Baba is the perfect example of representing pressing issues I a palatable way. which could be considered unorthodox because these issues shouldn't have to be palatable but they allow a problematic viewer to view things in a better, lighter light and become more aware of their behaviour. their is a riot of viewers perceiving work as a comedic piece but if one is educated on the movement the works can be extremely powerful and absorbed in the correct manner. Baba is a very simple way to express the importance of a lot of social issues in society today that can be ver powerful n making change in a number of comunities and globally.
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