Competition works
  >  Artists  >  Artists Profile  >  Artwork

Youth "slaves" to education

2018 Competition entry

Nkululeko Nkebe

Details:
Signed
Pen on paper
100 cm x 155 cm

Description:

This concept is influenced by the youth, education and the struggles that the youth are facing. I made use of graduation garments without anyone wearing it. This garment is taking over and driving a human and two pigs. The person is kneeling down eating with these pigs, but there is no food to eat. All there is is a graduation hat. This symbolises their struggles such as being jobless even with their certificates, diplomas and degrees. The use of pigs to me symbolises survival, because pigs eat anything they can find.

The pigs and the person are taking the space of a horse and are also blindfolded, as they are controlled by these garments which are pulling them with barbed wire.This wire symbolises pain due to the mark it leaves behind on the skin. If not careful, this type of wire can cause crime and poverty. In this drawing, everything inside the frame is slipping on the dry land. The graduation garments are on a trailer going forward, leaving behind problems and holes with no solutions.

The concept I try to bring forward hereby, is that we as the youth should protect ourselves by being open-minded and not focusing only on education, but adding to it by applying and developing our skills in order to contribute to solving the problem.