Johannesburg - Curiosity surrounded the Carl von Brandis statue outside the high court on Pritchard Street, Joburg, on Tuesday morning after its cuffs were painted pink.
Did vandals who have been targeting colonial and apartheid statues do it? But why was this one so neatly painted?
It turned out to be the work of artist Haroon Gunn-Salie, who, merely used pink rubber silicone to take a mould of the statue’s arms in preparation for an art exhibition that would create awareness behind the history of the statues.
He said he was inspired to do this because the statues of these colonial historical figures should not stand unquestioned.
“This statue standing here is the complete antithesis of what the high court symbolises in our democracy today,” he said.
“We have a statue of a man (Von Brandis) who may have been the first Joburg magistrate, but also was the chair of the Chamber of Mines… He forced black chiefs off their land without reparations so that he could mine and make money,” he said.
When asked why he was using the arms of colonial figures for the artwork, he said that hands signified a turn in history.
“Hands were used to shape and form apartheid and its colonial ideals. 1994 was the turning point in our history and it is now our turn to reshape and reform our future and create new symbols of our democracy.”
With the help of his assistant Bevan Thornton, he said he “did the same in Cape Town earlier this year moulding hands and arms of Jan van Riebeek, Bartholomew Diaz and Cecil John Rhodes statues”.
Passers-by were intrigued by Gunn-Salie’s project.
Christopher Mbata said: “It’s an awesome idea. It’s more constructive than tearing down the statues.”
Another artist, Tshepo Segone, said that vandalising the statues of historical figures was crazy.
“But what these two are doing here is creating an awareness about the past and adding to understanding our painful past so we can move towards a better future,” Segone said.
Gunn-Salie and Thornton said they hoped to create awareness about these figures in our current history.
Thornton, who was taking the moulds, laughed that at times during this project he wondered if he suffered from overambition.
“It’s been a big undertaking!”
Gunn-Salie will be exhibiting his work at the Goodman Gallery in Joburg from August 22.
Von Brandis was the mining commissioner in 1886 and Joburg’s first magistrate.
His statue is the work of sculptor David MacGregor and is right on the corner of Von Brandis and Pritchard streets.
The Star