Portraiture

Artist Sue Williamson once stated that a photograph, or image, of a person provides incontrovertible evidence that the person existed. Conversely, a person whose image has vanished remains shadowy in our imaginations.

The portraits in this gallery bring to life icons such as South Africa’s first democratically elected president Nelson Mandela, as well as one of the founding fathers of hip-hop, Grandmixer DXT. But they don’t stop with these larger-than-life figures. The portraits also bring us ethereal representations of ghost-like figures, vibrant street culture, and life-affirming depictions of individuality, community, and exuberant – if not quite human – forms.

Through these images we are invited to explore a range of emotions and themes: strength and joy, solitude and mortality. But it’s not just the likenesses that speak to us of universal truths in new and challenging ways: the very fabric of creation seeks to challenge what art can be. These portraits are realized with a distinctly African palette, as well as with intensely modern media: melted plastic, computer keys, wood carving, a newspaper tapestry, and layers of paint, prints and photography. The detritus itself of our modern lives can create representations of our own humanity that are at once foreign and other, and yet completely familiar.