DURBAN - WHILE the country focuses on the outcome of the local government elections, one man continues his mission of spreading the message of peace through his murals.
Internationally acclaimed artist Dr Nanda Soobben twirled his brush in paint and delivered a few brush strokes to the image of Ahmed Kathrada on Tuesday. Kathrada is one of 16 people who’ll be included in the painting outside Aryan Benevolent Homes (ABH) in Chatsworth.
He explained each person was one metre in height.
In Chatsworth he has the faces of Chief Albert Luthuli; Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Kathrada, Imtiaz Sooliman, Dr Gcina Mhlophe, Lenny Naidu, Kumi Naidoo, Judge Navi Pillay, Anshu Padayachee, Fatima Meer, Bhai Rambharos and a group of women who marched to the Union Buildings in 1956. He plans to paint other murals in Phoenix, Verulam and Merewent. These will include stalwarts from those areas.
Soobben said he had conceived the idea after witnessing the racial tension that came out of the July unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. It was also inspired by a mural he painted in New York, 30 years ago, during the first Gulf War.
“It is all in a day’s work. Painting with fine art equipment outdoors is no easy feat, battling the elements. The night the Americans bombed Baghdad with those Tomahawk cruise missiles from the missile carriers in the Persian Gulf, there were a few of us who were not cheering! You could hear the sound of those missiles. The TV sets were so loud and you could hear the sounds of the people cheering. I could not help thinking of the people on the other end of those missiles. My message is clear: peace.”
Soobben has been plying his trade for the past 25 years. His socio-political statements, cartoons and illustrations have been printed in newspapers around the world.
The Centre for Fine Art Animation and Design was founded in 1994 by Soobben, and through this tertiary institution many previously disadvantaged individuals have been equipped with skills to thrive in a high-technology art and design work environment.
If you’d like to contribute towards the mural, call ABH at 031 404 9523, or email [email protected].
Daily News