Wim Botha |
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Note: Wim Botha was an invited participant in the Dasart Transmigrations exhibition. He is not a Dasartist, nor does he necessarily espouse Dasart ideals. |
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Artists
DASART showsTransmigrations - the showFokofoDasart Archives
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Work Title : Wild Life
(Heroes go so lo) Wim Botha's works generally deal with issues pertaining to the essential aspects of human societal existence. A central theme is that of communal and societal conscience, consciousness and behaviour as opposed to that of the individual. It generally explores the relationship between individuality and mass perceptions or mentality and concentrates on issues of personal, societal, cultural and human identity. There are often references to core or base human instinct and it sometimes possesses a direct socio-political actuality. He started carving paper in a search for an alternative yet meaningful medium, Printed paper, essentially a means of conveying information, is recycled, transforming this information and rendering it inaccessible but also imbuing the object with the collective meaning and content of the bulk of the information. The papers used are mostly selected governmental documents and Gazettes, containing issues of governmental function, dealing with the organisation of the populace, and the definition of the individual therein. The human condition seems riddled with ambiguity and contradiction which, when extended to the individual / personal sphere serves to confound absolutes and cloud definitives. This work attempts to explore notions of individuality and immortality, and its functions in systems of social coagulation. "Wild Life" deals with the human, in resembled form. An isolated figure is suspended as an incomplete, in an uncertain state hovering between growth and decay. In close proximity on the wall, serving to suggest an interior environment is a head of the Blue Wildebeest (famous for its vast migratory habits and social herding instinct) presented as a mounted trophy. The principle of preservation and taxidermic mounting bears reference to the sustainment of semblances of life and by analogy to the principle of immortality. A trophy mount also implies notions of grandeur arid greatness of the /an individual in a similar way as a portrait bust, Undefined personal identity and suggestions of hermaphroditicality places the body as both archetype and derivative definition of the human. The incomplete body in its relation to the animal head might bear implications of an anthropomorphic state referring to spirituality and ancient mysticism. The reference to gallows and the loss of life implicit in any mounted trophy serve as contradictory equivalents to the implied contents as mentioned earlier. Among the documents used in this work are Government Gazettes, police training manuals and other documents, prison release certificates, 12th Grade final examination papers, constitution draft copies, legal notices, various proposed laws and amendments to existing laws, electoral regulatory brochures and a selection of various other similar documents. Wim Botha (Top of Page) |
