Billy Monk: Defiance and Decadence Under Apartheid

by The Container, Craig Cameron Mackintosh, Ashraf Jamal

"Defiance and Decadence Under Apartheid " is a catalogue for an exhibition by the late legendary South African photographer, Billy Monk, at The Container, Tokyo. It is the 21st publication in a series, published by the gallery to archive and promote artists in Japan and abroad. The catalogue is fully bilingual (Japanese / English) and includes an introduction by the gallery director, Shai Ohayon, among critical writings by the director and custodian of the Billy Monk Collection, Craig Cameron-Mackintosh, and the South African writer and academic, Ashraf Jamal. The publication explores the fascinating life and work of Billy Monk, a bouncer and a photographer at the notorious Cape Town night club The Catacombs between 1967 and 1969 – the height of the apartheid-era rule. The exhibition, "Defiance and Decadence Under Apartheid", showcases a rare selection of Monk's original some are from the original series presented in 1982 at the Market Gallery, some are from a newer series shown in 2019 by the Billy Monk Collection, and some, are showcased for the very first time—images that have never been exhibited (or released) before anywhere in the world.Monk's photographs provide perhaps the only artistic documentation in existence of a defiant subculture, where skin colour was not an issue, nor sexual or gender preferences. Black and white revelers rub shoulders with other marginalized minorities expelled by the apartheid policy, and with the many Japanese and Hong Kongese seamen and business men who frequented the nearby port. The exhibition at The Container in Tokyo, takes place 21 October, 2019—6 January, 2020. The Container is a contemporary exhibition space in Nakameguro, Tokyo. The space opened in March 2011 to create a site that encourages people to engage with art installations and works, where the emphasis is on curation and the accessibility of contemporary art and ideas to the general public. As the name suggests, the physical space is no more than a constructed shipping container (485x180x177cm), made to measurements of old Japanese shipping containers, in one of Tokyo's most beloved and trendy neighbourhoods, Nakameguro. The Container invites Japanese and international artists to make site-specific installations four times a year. Each installation remains on view to the public for two-and-a- half months. Since 2013, The Container also started to publish full-colour, bilingual (Jap/Eng) exhibition catalogues, available online and at the gallery. The exhibition space receives extensive international coverage, including ArtAsiaPacific, Artforum, Hyperallergic, Glass Magazine, Art & Antiques Magazine, Ocula, Port Magazine, Dazed & Confused, Blouin Artinfo, Art-iT, Bijutsu-Techo/BT, CNN, NHK, WIRED, The Japan Times, The Sunday Times, travel guides and in-flight magazines, to mention only a few. www.the-container.com

76 pages, Paperback

Published September 7, 2019