Bootstraps, 1997

Acrylic resin, lead strips, contact glue. Installation dimensions variable. From an exhibition titled "Reject" at the KZNSA Gallery, Durban, South Africa.

In the realm of material culture, the act of interpreting objects and the associations they carry is a complex endeavor that engages both historical and contemporary discourses. This series of sculptures, inspired by early military uniforms and regalia, is a poignant artistic investigation into the semiotics of power, authority, and identity, particularly within the socio-political context of the late 1970s and 1980s South Africa—often referred to as the high-apartheid era. During this tumultuous time, militarized police forces appropriated and recontextualized traditional military designs, creating versions imbued with specific ideological and political meanings.

The sculptures in this series function as material artifacts that interrogate the complex relationship between objects, history, and cultural memory. They prompt viewers to consider how objects like military uniforms serve practical functions and act as powerful symbols that communicate specific social and political messages. In the case of the militarized police during the high-apartheid era, the adaptation of early military designs was not merely an aesthetic choice but a calculated act that sought to legitimize state-sanctioned violence and oppression through the visual language of authority and tradition.

The sculptures raise critical questions about the ethics of representation and art's role in perpetuating and challenging historical narratives. By reimagining these uniforms and regalia through the medium of sculpture, the artist engages in critical commentary that seeks to deconstruct the ideological underpinnings of these objects while inviting viewers to confront their preconceptions and biases.

This complex academic and artistic exploration into the intricate ways objects can be read and interpreted, especially within specific historical and cultural contexts. By focusing on the appropriation and transformation of military designs by the militarized police during South Africa's apartheid era, the works offer a nuanced critique of the mechanisms through which power, authority, and identity are constructed and communicated through material culture.