Acrylic, oil, pastel on linen cardboard
18 x 24 cm
2024
‘Newspapers are her carpet, fruit crates are her chairs and table’ is a photograph by Ernest Cole* (House of Bondage, South Africa, 1960).
Last year, during a visit at the FOAM in Amsterdam, I came across the works of Ernest Cole.
While his photographs are mostly b/w, each work seemed to be filled with colors of emotion.
His work inspired my work. Even though our work (approach) comes from very different backgrounds,
it is important to appreciate, share and acknowledge someone’s work and its story.
Because in essence, that’s what art is about: a source of inspiration, enrichment and teaching.
*As one of the first Black freelance photographers, Cole offered with his work an unprecedented view from the inside.
Born in a township, Cole experienced the strains of apartheid first-hand. By having himself reclassified from ‘black’ to ‘coloured’,
he managed to access places where most South Africans were banned.
He risked his life exposing the grim reality of racial segregation, by documenting miners inside the mines,
police controls and the demolition of townships, among others.
(https://www.foam.org/events/ernest-cole)