Zwelethu Mthethwa, born 1960, Durban, South Africa Search this
Medium:
Inkjet print on canvas
Dimensions:
H x W: 116 x 135 cm (45 11/16 x 53 1/8 in.)
Type:
Photograph
Geography:
South Africa
Date:
2000
Label Text:
Recognized for his use of color and his ability to show the dignity of his subjects, Zwelethu Mthetwa is best known for his large yet deeply intimate photographs of black South Africans inside their homes. This work, commissioned for an auction to help AIDS patients in Africa, is unusual in its collage-style format. Mthethwa chose a somber palette and used a photo-documentary approach to depict children as the silent, helpless witnesses to and victims of South Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Description:
Black and white (giclée) digital print presenting a conglomeration of snapshots primarily of children or children's world. In the upper left corner is an image of an out-stretched hand, lit in contrast to a menacing shadow beneath. In the center top, the artist photographs a toy jumbo jet and a doll carriage, left abandoned in the scene. To the right of these images stands a figure of a girl, pictured in a white dress only from the waist down, casting another long shadow on the ground. The center plane of the composition features a closeup look at the folds of a roughly hewn, machine-stitched blanket. The lower edge of the photograph depicts five images of a child's profile, becoming increasingly focused on the left ear. Two small images of a medical coat with AIDs ribbon complete the image.
Exhibition History:
African Mosaic: Celebrating a Decade of Collecting, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 19, 2010-November 13, 2013 (deinstalled February 13, 2013)
Insights, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., February 27 to November 28, 2004
Recent Acquisitions and Promised Gifts, National Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., October 18, 2002-January 5, 2003
Content Statement:
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Image Requests:
High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
Credit Line:
Purchased with funds provided by the Annie Laurie Aitken Endowment
