Artist Description
Artist Notes:
"It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory, blah, blah, blah..." Cecil John Rhodes
Imperialism, Colonialism, Racism, Capitalism, all manner of -isms for the advancement of the human race according to former Cape Colony Prime Minister CJ Rhodes... Expropriation of land and raising the wealth requirements for voting, (effectively barring black Africans from taking part in elections), ..
Is his biggest legacy I think. What a colourful past we have...
Still on my journey of unpacking my personal history, I find Rhodes as one of the big shapers of the Cape...warts and all. In this work I have the monument of Rhodes, contemplating against an angry/stormy sky. The broken, disrupted patterns pointing at the destructive nature of colonialism on indigenous cultures. I hint at the ever onwards march of Big Business, the reminders in our city of our painful past... And how our city was shaped without much regard for those not fitting inside the "bracket"...
Keywords: Cecil John Rhodes,
