Artwork symbolises murder victims

At first glance it looks like a beautiful painting of a scene in South Africa, but at closer inspection the deep and shocking reality is revealed. Salomi Prinsloo’s artwork, 19 829 epitaphs for South African murder victims in 2003-2004, has already caused a huge stir – not only in the art world, but also in people’s lives. Prinsloo donated the work of art to Solidarity. The artwork, which consists of six panels, is marked with notches that represent murder victims in the period 2003-2004. The work now has a place in the trade unions head office to “mean something to someone”.

The landscape artist, who grew up on a farm in the Free State, has a clear statement to make by means of her so-called “protest art”. With this work she wants to create a visual image of murder victims, because for many people 18 829 is just “an abstract number”. Her inspiration for the work comes from her background and love for the farm and the number of people around her who have been affected by violence. “I will continue making more such works until the crime rate goes down,” Prinsloo said from her home in Pretoria, where she also offers art classes.

Thousands of people are affected by crime in South Africa every year. Every year this number just gets bigger, and yet remains only a statistic. “Baboons don’t exterminate baboons, sheep don’t exterminate sheep, and cows don’t exterminate cows, but people exterminate each other,” Prinsloo said passionately.

Hopefully the artwork can promote the fight against violence and crime, and hopefully there will be fewer notches in the years to follow.