SPIDERWEBS

Human trafficking

The works ‘How long, O Lord, how long’ and Job :13-14 were created for The Freedom Exhibition – an exhibition in aid of the fight against human trafficking - which made its debut at Aardklop in Potchefstroom in 2012.

The images, printed on layers of transparent Perspex, consist of spiderwebs from which the prayers of the victims continuously rise.

#menwillbeloversofthemselves

In a virtual world you are the star. The illusion of control is strengthened by manipulated information and events that perfectly revolve around you. Reality and truth have been obliterated, with algorithms blurring lines between reality and fantasy. Expectations of instant gratification imply that life should be as perfect as the photoshopped image projected into the world. At the same time, ‘likes’ do not translate into real friends, and the 2-year old’s designer party does not make up for the mom who is constantly distracted by digital stimuli.

When the Internet was introduced to the public in 1993/4, people were incredulous at the speed with which information could be instantly available world-wide. Since then, the World Wide Web has transformed life as we knew it, even as we remain oblivious to the spider at the heart of the web.

Spiderweb

The Spiderweb artwork started as an experiment to see whether it would be possible to interpret such a delicate structure in text. I simply started typing, using books from the Bible in our 11 South African languages. The work #menwillbeloversofthemselves contains 11 books. The image was still not complete, however, and so I added 2 books in Yoruba (Nigeria) and Shona (Zimbabwe). The final Spiderweb artwork contains 13 complete books.

Scripture selection: 1 Peter (Sesotho), 2 Peter (Sepedi), I Timothy (isiZulu), 2 Timothy (isiXhosa), 1 John (Setswana), 2 John (Siswati), 3 John (Xitsonga), Philemon (Tshivenda), Titus (Ndebele), Jude (Afrikaans), Revelation (English), James (Yoruba), Galatians (Shona)