Slegs Vir Almal

silkscreen
edition of 50
paper size 16 x 23cm
1976
Notes on this work
I don't much believe in cultural boycotts. Cutting people off from communication of culture (which must perforce speak liberty) seems very different from denying them the pleasure of sport. Invited to exhibit in South Africa in 1973 I accepted and made a preliminary visit, during which I collected postcards (mostly of people from whose skins I could paint the patchwork of A Skin Game and its variants) and other material, and came to the decision that I would only show works relating to Africa. By the time the exhibition took place in 1974 I had painted slogan pictures and studies of West African sculpture as well as a number of pictures based on postcards. From the ubiquitous and iniquitous signs of apartheid (Slegs vir blankes, slegs vir nie- blankes / reserved for whites, reserved for non-whites etc.) I devised a slogan in Afrikaans Slegs vir Almal, i.e. 'Reserved for everybody'. I had a rubberstamp made of this and overprinted all the banknotes that passed through my hands. I made a screenprint of such a tinted and overprinted Five Rand note and produced a cheap poster version. The slogan itself appeared on most of the paintings in the show.