By Sarah Lockwood
After weeks of controversy surrounding its right to permanent exhibition, Ronald Harrison's famous anti-apartheid painting, The Black Christ, is again going on display - this time as part of the Cape Town Visual Arts Festival.
The painting, which depicts former African National Congress leader Chief Albert Luthuli as Christ being crucified by then prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd and his justice minister, John Vorster, will be displayed in St George's Cathedral with eight other paintings by Harrison in an exhibition: The Black Christ and the Spirit of Albert Luthuli Collection.
Painted in 1961, the Black Christ has long been the subject of argument and controversy, most recently grabbing the headlines in a debate concerning whether or not it should be on permanent display at the Iziko South African National Gallery.
"It's amazing that over 40 years after I painted it, my painting still seems capable of creating controversy and sparking debate," said Harrison, who explained that while he understood and accepted it was the gallery's policy to rotate the paintings on display, he believed the work should be available to everyone who wanted to see it.
"The painting belongs to the city of Cape Town," he said. "I am pleased that through this exhibition - for three weeks at least - The Black Christ will be on public display in Cape Town again."
For Theo Kleynhans, curator of the Visual Arts Festival's exhibitions, the danger is that the media debate will detract attention from the exhibition.
"I really hope that when people come to the cathedral and see the paintings they will be able to forget these recent arguments and just appreciate The Black Christ for what it is - an important and historically significant piece of art, with a message as relevant today as it was all those years ago."
The exhibition, which opens on Tuesday, displays Harrison's most famous work alongside a series of eight other paintings by the artist, entitled the Spirit of Albert Luthuli.
Described by Harrison as his "attempt to articulate the legacy and spirit" of the Nobel Prize laureate - a man he cites as his "hero" and "greatest inspiration" - these paintings are Harrison's most recent works and were unveiled last September at the Chief Albert Luthuli Museum in Groutville in KwaZulu-Natal.
This is the first time they have been exhibited in Cape Town, and Kleynhans says it is the opportunity to view The Black Christ alongside the newer paintings that makes this exhibition particularly special.
The juxtaposition softens what he calls the "harshness" of the struggle painting, by placing its "moving depiction of the pain suffered during apartheid" next to more recent "messages of hope and peace".
"I hope that by displaying these works side by side we will be able to demonstrate some of the changes South Africa has undergone over the years," said Kleynhans.
"But as well as showing the past, I very much hope that the exhibition will encourage people to enter into a dialogue about modern South Africa.
"It is my great hope that this exhibition will act as a trigger for debate, not just about the past and the mistakes that were made then, but also about the present and, perhaps more importantly, the future."
- The Black Christ and the Spirit of Albert Luthuli Collection will be at St George's Cathedral, Wale Street, from March 6 to 24, and is one of three exhibitions of the Cape Town Visual Arts Festival.
FEST, an exhibition featuring 16 Western Cape artists, and Alfa Beta etc, an exhibition of oil paintings by Theo Paul Vorster, will be displayed at the Rust en Vrede Gallery, Durbanville from March 14 to 24.