Speaking her mind through the power of painting
● Johannesburg artist says we must be prepared to discuss issues that are not comfortable
A picture paints a thousand words and there was a strong message delivered at the GFI Gallery during Diane Victor’s walkabout yesterday morning.
On entering the gallery, one is met by a towering woven linen creation depicting Uyinene Mrwetyana’s mother carrying her daughter, representing loss and the strength of women.
It was among the powerful pieces art lovers got to experience while hearing the international artist discuss her body of work spanning the last two decades.
The works address women abuse, injustice, inequality and other issues affecting SA.
Victor, 59, from Johannesburg, is a contemporary artist who has been at the forefront of the SA art scene for many years.
Yesterday, she spoke out against “cancel culture” and said she was concerned about the effect it was having on some galleries that were afraid of being “cancelled” due to the type of exhibitions they showed.
“We are pressurised by social media to respond in a certain way, even though it makes you feel a kind of way, it is a kind of imposed way of saying [what] you should believe,” Victor said.
“You should not have to bite your tongue all the time.
“Speaking is a way of negotiating other people’s truths, instead of swallowing what is said not to be good.
“I think many younger students are afraid of this cancel culture. But if you look at history, people who made [big] statements said things that were uncomfortable, but needed to be said.”
Victor graduated from Wits University in 1986 with a BA degree in fine arts, majoring in print making.
She is now a part-time lecturer in drawing and print making at the University of Johannesburg and the University of Pretoria.
She said she was amazed by the number of people who visited her exhibition on Wednesday evening and joined the walkabout yesterday.
The exhibition will run until April 27.
“I am really happy, because that is what the work is about — you want people to question the work and the maker,” Victor said.
“I do not mind if people do not like my work.
“All I am doing is opening conversation about these things that are happening in our society; not all of the work is about violence in our society.”
Spier Arts Trust chief executive Mirna Wessels said they decided to bring the exhibition to the GFI Gallery as people in the Eastern Cape did not get enough opportunities to see bodies of work on this scale.