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Vaarwel Jan-Frederik/Farewell Jan Frederik

2017 Competition entry

Dina Grobler

Details:
Signed
Etching, charcoal, graphik line paint
58 cm x 77 cm

Description:

As an artist Dina has a fascination with rapoi (everyday household objects). These objects reflect and trigger stories of human remembrance, emotions and happenings.

The work finds its reference in nostalgic domestic objects as well as in the recent re-classification of the Cape Robin indigenous bird. The British colonists loved to name any small bird with a reddish chest after their beloved Robin Redbreast. The stubborn Dutch colonists wanted their own name-giving and called the little bird Jan Frederik, thus imitating the bird's call.

The work is a metaphor for the sacrifice of indigenous languages and cultures for the sake of newcomers or colonists. 

The silver cutlery with animal bone handles crates the impression of dangerously sharp objects, while the shadows contribute to the lurking danger.

The porcelain plates, filled with remnants (bones, wood, dry grass, leaves and seaweed, copper deposits and dry honeycombs which were once sweet and enticing), all form a sacrificial "altar" for the bird.