Self-portrait - seeing oneself

Death is something I would say we all think about, especially when you are young—the fear of death, the unknown of where your spirit goes after death.

My portrait is inspired by my mom. She is a church woman and, I would say, a very spiritual figure in my life. I am not spiritual, but I always say, "I know my mom is always praying for me". She fights physical and spiritual battles.I stand behind her not because I cannot protect myself but because she always has. The uniform she is wearing is a church cloth, representing prayer and the spiritual world.

The figure behind her is me, the scared little boy I am inside. With the uncertainty of life where in Kimberley life goes, stab deaths are so many. The person who is coming could be anyone because you never know who is trying to hurt you. It could be a stranger or someone you know. That is the life we live now. Things have changed, and people kill each other over small things that do not even matter.

In this dark world, the only light you may have can be your mother. The trees symbolise the jungle that this life is. And in the jungle, anything is possible.

Homage to the Departed – working with the Museum collections

The work I have done depicts expressionism with surrealism. With all the strong lines and the exaggerated long arms with sharp fingers the art symbolises the Karoo or Kalahari life.

The early life in the Northern Cape is where the Khoi people live. The woman is mixed with a blue crane and eating with her hands. There was no fancy cutlery, but they had things to hunt with. Like the arrows and sharp objects. The laying figure is an animal killed by hunting as it was done back then, with plants growing behind. The symbol of after death, there is still life. The woman's body is also something I saw of a "Naron woman near Xangas, Kalahari, 1936" at the McGregor Museum, as the Khoi people have deep backs with their behinds out. So I just depicted it with a pot just to show the shape but did not draw it here as people back then saw them. It was a little bit of respect to the history and the dead.

Next to the women, there are drawings on rocks of their stories, the connection with her and her history. The rocks tell the stories of what happened in the spiritual world. Just as I have added a skeleton hand for death. The plant I have visualised can be the silver Karoo, which grows in harsh and dry places.

Shadows of the Memory - monochrome past at Duggan Cronin Gallery

“Land of the dead”

This art was inspired by the Human head 2013/Zephyr, a combination of modern medical imaging techniques to reveal the inside of a living head.

The scan used is called an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging technology. This image shows the skull and the neck bones made from two-dimensional cross-section. The brain is too soft to show up on an X-ray. I drew a combination of dead bodies inside the living head to express the thoughts of our dead relatives. We still think about them even though they have left this world. And the horizontal line represents peace and calm but also the repetition that happens with death - the only thing that is permanent in life.

On the left side is an aloe vera used for manufacture commercial products. It's mostly used for topical medications such as burns, wounds, frostbites, rashes cold sores. Traditionally it is used for skin treatment medicine. It also survives in areas with low natural rainfall. Like the aloe we grow in Kimberley a place where things do not look good for everyone. Some would call it a dying city. But it has its good sides too because we are surviving and still making the best out of what we have.

Tracing the Past - Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art Centre

“The four horsemen”

The Bible says that when all ends, there will be four horsemen. All of them, save for death, are beings depicted with human appearance. The four horsemen symbolise famine, war, death, and pestilence. One of the horsemen carries a bow.

The connection is the four men getting ready to eat or go hunting. The Khoi San people did not believe in the Bible. They had more spiritual/traditional. They changed when civilisation came, and then they took the Bible, too. The blue symbolises peace, as the sky is free and clear. This is similar to how the Khoi had to move from Namibia as refugees after the war and relocate to South Africa.

I used the "Bosjemans frying locusts" aquatint by Samuel Daniels as a reference from 1805. In Botswana, they were forced to relocate by denying them water and the right to hunt, which was their primary food source. In the Herero and Namaqua genocide, about 10,000 Nama, a Khoekhoe group and San people were killed in an extermination campaign by the German Colonial Empire between 1904 and 1908.

Reflections on the project (May 2024)

This programme helped me see more than just death and understand that something else is born, even in death. You can depict the remains on a canvas and make people see a story they may not have heard or seen. I challenged myself more by doing something I would never have considered doing. I also had the chance to learn to be more confident in what I can bring to life through my mind, eyes, and hands. I got the opportunity to change my art into something more meaningful with a story behind it and not just something people will look at and think, "It is beautiful". I learned new techniques on how to visualise my art.

I am grateful for the opportunity that Halina and Anna granted me. They ensured everything was going according to plan and were more than helpful. Anna helped me so much with my art. She was hands-on with everyone and worked tirelessly to help us. Anna helped me see what I did not see in myself regarding art. She showed me new ways to do my art, and one thing I took is not to overthink about the art; then, you will not be able to even start with it. Just start with it and let your hand guide you. I even went from being shy and not believing in myself to a person who was able to connect with other fellow artists and share my ideas and thoughts. Halina was the brains behind this project. She made us think about what everything meant to us, challenged us to do the portraits, and then described them to everyone, which was hard for me because I was not good at public speaking. She also had a lot of information and knew about the cultural and ethical issues behind what we were doing. Prof. David showed us all the exciting stuff we had to offer as Kimberley. The rock site and its history are about the Nama and the Khoi people who had been here for ages and left their stories on the rocks behind. I learned more about Kimberley in those weeks than my entire time here.

They took our group, which had different views and backgrounds, and made everyone feel included, as everyone's view matters. I could tell that they loved their jobs because, as for us, we were used to seeing some things but didn't know they had such deep meanings behind them, but they knew that already. They valued what we took for granted because we saw everything daily and didn't think much of it.

The whole experience was new for me, and it was amazing to do our art at the Museum. A Turkish ambassador also visited the Museum and had the opportunity to see some of our artwork. I also got more than just an experience. I learnt from amazing people and built relationships with people I respect in their profession. In that short period of working with everyone, I got to grow as a person and through my art.

There are ethical and cultural issues associated with depicting human remains. On the one hand, this helps us learn more about history and medical issues and how we can solve them. By researching dead bodies, we can find out what causes death and how humans can avoid such deaths. But on the cultural side, it's about following tradition, respecting the dead and the spirit, and seeing the afterlife as sacred.

Cadavers or corpses are used to study anatomy, determine the cause of death, identify diseases and provide tissues to repair defects in living human beings. Archaeologists and artists use the bodies to study further about corpses. A study of anatomy is only possible with sketches and detailed drawings of discoveries when working with corpses. Da Vinci's efforts proved very helpful in studying the brain's ventricular system. He went as far as removing facial skin to portray the body better through art. If we look at all this through cultural eyes, every culture has a different tradition, but they have a place to connect. One thing is certain: you cannot open a body for the sole purpose of drawing it. That is seen as disrespectful and wrong in every way.

There is a difference, though, I feel, between death and a loss. A death is just someone you heard has died, but when you know the person, it's more personal. There are feelings involved, which makes it a loss. In my tradition, death isn't just a death. It's a loss because we understand that that is someone's family or loved one. That's why when someone dies before the funeral, they have to go and pick up the person's spirit where they died to make sure they are at peace. Sometimes, when seeing a skeleton in a museum, you ask yourself whether that person is at peace, seeing that they are not buried.