Title: Vastrap I
Medium: Charcoal on paper
Title: Vastrap II
Medium: Charcoal on paper
Title: Vastrap III
Medium: Charcoal on paper
Diane Victor’s work tackles a range of issues, from sexual repression to social violence and racial oppression. Her work is deeply rooted in the troubled consciousness of contemporary South Africa. Despite the figurative nature of her work, she avoids the trappings of social realism. In Victor’s work, metaphor and symbol are as important as the literal depictions of her subjects (O’Toole 2003:28).
The artworks, Vastrap I, II and III, were from the body of work Transmigrations exhibited in 2016. The best explanation for these artworks has been given by the artist herself talking about art post 1994. “I do not intend to improve society but only to make people think slightly. Within this country, now that suddenly we are in a new society, and everything is wow whoopee Rainbow Nation, we are still slaughtering people. Perhaps it does not happen at the same rate as it did before, and perhaps it is almost too easily forgotten. Yet one can still switch on the radio and hear that they killed twenty people in Natal or five were necklaced or stoned. Nothing seems to change, no-one responds unless they are affected personally, and people still forget what they do not like” – Diane Victor (1995)
