Of Pride and Circumstance: the people I met in Africa

Artist’s Statement, Suzanne Paleczny

See sample photos of the art here: http://www.artabus.com/paleczny/

This body of work grew out of a personal journey into African culture. I moved with my children and husband to Zimbabwe in 1995, where we lived for three years. During that time we took every opportunity to travel with our tent throughout Zimbabwe and into the neighbouring countries of Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. I returned to South Africa in 2003 where I was able to meet old friends. The three sections of the show mirror my own journey into a different culture.

Part I: Looking In On Life in Africa

In the first section you see the paintings as an outsider looking in, or in my case as a newcomer observing a way of life that was unfamiliar to me. The people in the paintings are absorbed in their own world and oblivious to us. Ancient traditions meld with the new. Some activities have changed little over the centuries like gathering wood, making clay pots, and harvesting mealies. Others show the influence of European colonization—school uniforms and polished shoes, and youthful ballerinas beside bare-footed dancers in dusty rural areas.

Part II: Of Pride and Circumstance

The second section, consisting of life-size portraits, represents interaction and a transition from outsider to friend. I was invited to the homes and rural villages of my new friends and allowed to participate in events in their lives. The paintings depict people of different walks of life, ages and social status. The people have posed for their portraits. As they make eye contact with you, they are no longer anonymous. They have a past, a future, joys and hardships, a story to tell.

My intention here is to honour and celebrate the individual lives of these people I met while also acknowledging the huge societal issues they face. I am appalled by the relative indifference that much of the world shows to poor countries in crisis, particularly poor black countries. So I decided to paint the people life-size. The paintings are too large to be ignored.

Part III: Through Their Eyes

Masks have been a universal expression throughout time. In some African cultures, it is suggested that ‘masking is not so much a portrayal as an actual embodiment’: the mask is the spirit.

What is our face but a mask? It is neither who we are nor the sum total of what defines us. Yet, the mask we wear determines so much. These masks are an expression of my growing concern and awareness of the discrepancies that exist between the perceived value of people’s lives, depending on the wealth of the nation they live in, and the colour of their skin.

I have few answers and many questions. The masks represent those questions: What does life hold for those born into poverty? Here I would like you to ponder the lives of the people behind the masks and ask the question: “what would it be like to see the world through their eyes?”