Woordfees: Printmaking exhibition explores human rights in democratic SA

Visual art: Freedom, Life and Dignity Reimagined 

28 September – 6 October, open from 9:00-18:00

Stellenbosch University Museum 

The country’s Constitution and Bill of Rights cannot be ignored when reflecting on South Africa’s 30 years of democracy. How can a democracy exist without human rights for everyone? 

The printmaking exhibition Freedom, Life and Dignity Reimagined encourages viewers to critically engage with the role the Bill of Rights plays in contemporary South Africa. It successfully challenges the viewer to consider the position that the Bill of Rights has held, and continues to hold, in South Africa’s democracy, and to question what has changed after 30 years of democracy by contrasting the past with the present.

Displayed at the Stellenbosch University (SU) Museum, the exhibition showcases SU’s third-year fine art students’ etching projects. The students’ work draws inspiration from the Human Rights Portfolio, a series of prints created in 1996 by various South African artists. The portfolio’s creation acted as a celebration of South Africa’s then new Constitution and Bill of Rights.

^{The printmaking exhibition Freedom, Life and Dignity Reimagined is displayed on the second floor of the Stellenbosch University Museum. PHOTO: Abigail Baard}

Freedom, Life and Dignity Reimagined is displayed on the second floor of the SU museum. The artworks are displayed on the room’s walls at eye level. Four multimedia pieces that accompany some of the students’ work are displayed on stands around the room. The Human Rights Portfolio prints are displayed on the walls, placed in-between the students’ work. 

The curation of the exhibition lends itself more to a contemplative journey than a display of aesthetics. There are striking pieces that can stand alone. However, by placing the students’ work alongside the 1996 black and white prints, the viewer is forced to reflect on their contrast. It creates the space to compare different perspectives from different eras. 

^{The printmaking exhibition held at the Stellenbosch University (SU) Museum, Freedom, Life and Dignity Reimagined places prints from the Human Rights Portfolio, a series of prints done in 1996 by various South African artist alongside the etching projects of SU’s third-year fine arts students. The students’ work took inspiration from the portfolio as it reflected on the position of Bill of Rights in South Africa’s democracy. PHOTO: Abigail Baard}

Then and now

Each print from the Human Rights Portfolio clearly speaks to a specific human right laid out in the Bill of Rights, such as freedom of expression and the right to association. The students’ artworks present a more reflective approach to the topic of human rights, by considering what these rights mean in modern day South Africa. Their work speaks to themes of voting hesitancy in the younger population, the lack of a healthy living environment, gender-based violence, and animal rights. This reveals that human rights concerns are still prevalent among young South Africans. 

^{Freedom, Life and Dignity Reimagined, a printmaking art exhibition displayed the Stellenbosch University (SU) museum, contrasts the work of SU’s third-year fine arts students with prints from the Human Rights Portfolio, a series of prints done in 1996 by various South African artists. This contrast explores human rights in South Africa over its 30 years of democracy. PHOTO: Abigail Baard}

Related