OPINION: How art can be used to bring awareness in the same way it’s used to sanitise injustices in society [VIDEO]

Things such as rape and violent crimes are so heavy to process, that sometimes discussing them through an art form helps make the heavy topic more palatable.

Art aids in bringing awareness to societal issues that would often be too raw to deal with; yet in the same way art aids, it’s also used as a tool to proliferate hate or sanitise injustice.

In a recent interview, Chis Brown’s former manager of a dozen years Tina Davis shared how music was used to clean Brown’s public image after physically abusing pop star and then-girlfriend, Rihanna.

Chris Brown's former manager of 12 years, Tina Davis, reveals parents used to drop off their daughters at hotels, hoping they would get into a relationship with Chris Brown so he would marry them, and shares the strategy they used to get him back on the radio after the Rihanna… pic.twitter.com/guBPlKtQzf

— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) November 13, 2024

“No one would play him [Brown] on the radio and at that point, you had to have a radio, there were no DSPs [Digital Service Providers] and different other platforms for you to use,” said Davis.

In 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault on Rihanna and was sentenced to a five-year probation and six months community service.

ALSO READ: Chris Brown: Why are we giving an abuser a platform?

Art’s sanitisation  

The same year Brown released his third album, Graffiti, which was considered to be a commercial failure and because of this, the singer’s team, led by Davis, became creative about sterilising Brown’s image through the release of good mixtapes.

“It was hard to try and get him over that hump, to get people to change their minds. Because before it [Rihanna abuse] happened, everyone loved him; kids…parents were dropping off their kids at hotels like ‘go get Chris Brown’,” averred Davis, who is the first woman to head the A&R department at Def Jam Records.

The music executive said Brown was viewed as a sweetheart to the world prior to the abuse revelations. “[Parents] were like ‘he’s a good kid, I want you to go marry him’,” she said.

Davis said they needed to figure out a way to get Brown back on radio.

“…And the way that we did it was we put him on features for everything. Anybody that called us, he jumped on…there was a feature on everything.”

During this time Brown was doing a slew of mixtapes, which are traditionally distributed freely to build up hype for an artist, with US rapper Tyga.

“We were like that’s the strategy. We’re going to do a whole bunch of mixtapes and just keep flooding the business and put music out. But we’re also on everybody[’s song] that calls us, so every time a big artist puts a record out, they have to play it…so after a while, every other record was featuring Chris Brown,” she said.

“That’s how we were able to get back at radio and then Deuces came right after that.”

 Hit song Deuces was a ditty the industry couldn’t resist after its release in 2010. Through it, Brown cemented his return to the zeitgeist of mainstream media.

Art had done its job again.

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Art brings awareness

Through visual art, a documentary specifically, society accepted that R. Kelly is an abuser.

The first season of Surviving R. Kelly was released in 2019 and it caused global shockwaves because of the frank accounts from victims, fellow musicians and victims’ families about their experience with the Step In the Name of Love singer.

Following the release of the doccie, R. Kelly’s record label RCA Records dropped him. R. Kelly was formally charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

In 2022, the Grammy award-winning R&B singer was convicted on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.

The singer is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Again, art plays a pivotal role.

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Chris Brown in SA

Speaking to The Citizen before the release of Chris Brown: A History of Violence documentary, Women For Change Executive Director Sabrina Walter said she hoped the doccie would enlighten people about Brown’s nature as an abuser.

“The R. Kelly documentary ultimately played a crucial role in his arrest, and we’ll be watching closely to see how this unfolds. We’re prepared to take action based on what emerges from this documentary,” she said in October.

Chris Brown: A History of Violence was released on October 27.

Women For Change is a non-profit organisation that advocates for the constitutional rights of women and children in South Africa.

After it was announced that Brown would be coming to South Africa to perform a few shows, the organization launched a petition to halt the singer’s planned tour to Mzansi.

“Our initial goal was to reach 5,000 signatures – a milestone we achieved within 48 hours of launching the petition,” shared Walter.

At the time of writing the petition had gathered just under 50,000 signatures.

ALSO READ: ‘Chris Brown has an audience of assault deniers’ – Documentary to premiere as star heads to SA

‘An insult to victims‘

“We look forward to seeing how many more will join us in this effort to prevent abusers from being granted a visa to perform in our country, which has some of the highest GBVF statistics in the world.”

Once the petition reaches a significant number, Women For Chang plans to contact authorities, including Big Concerts, the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, and Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber.

“We want answers on how the Department of Home Affairs could grant a visa to a convicted abuser, allowing him to perform in South Africa. This decision by our Government is concerning and suggests a systemic failure.”

The Citizen reached out to the Home Affairs ministry and event organisers Big Concerts for comment but they did not respond.

Brown’s concert in Joburg is set to take place on December 14, just a few days after South Africa commemorates 16 Days of Activism Against GBV.

Walters said this move is an affront to the millions of women and girls affected by violence in South Africa and worldwide.

“In a country where we all know the severe levels of GBV and femicide, it is disheartening that, amid women fighting for their lives, we are choosing to celebrate an artist with a history of violence.”

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