Artist's Statement

The title for this exhibition is The Long Day. I also considered calling it The Small World or Linden, the name of the suburb where I live. This body of work follows the theme of my previous work titled Crying in Public—making public that which is private or simply telling stories that have their origins in personal experience.

The Long Day, presented through a series of sculptures, tells the story of my house in the suburb where I live in Johannesburg. Because I work from home and work alone, my experience is in many ways the same as housewives who stay home while their husbands work away from home. Part of what I am concerned with is the idea of isolation or loneliness. In the past fifteen years in South Africa, especially Johannesburg, people (mainly white) living in the suburbs have taken security measures to such an extent that they have walled themselves in. After living in my present house for a year, I met some of my neighbors only after my elderly neighbor (who does not have a high wall) was stabbed by intruders, when everybody came out from their houses to hear what happened.

I believe that political or public things manifest themselves on a smaller, personal level. The big head as you enter the exhibition, Boyfriend, is the most important person in this small world. His arrival home after work signals the end of the long day. The Neighbor suggests the world outside the house, juxtaposed with scenes of domesticity, Ben, and family members, Three Sisters, who are occupied with decisions about careers, love, and children.

When I was studying art from 1990 to 1997, I felt the only relevant art to make was overtly political art and anything else was self-indulgent. These works explore the ways in which domestic life goes on regardless of what the political situation is at the time; simultaneously, the politics of the place you live in does manifest itself in your personal place. Maybe this is true of suburban living in general, not only for South Africa; I have never lived anywhere else.