7th Havana Biennial -  Home November 2000 - January 2001Home
Jane Alexander - Statement
African Adventure: Cape of Good Hope

By Jane Alexander
This work refers to visual documents as a means of communication, particularly topographical representations of Southern Africa and indigenous people from the 18th and 19th century, and current tourist guides to South Africa. These photomontages are of actual locations and most include images of my sculpture.

It is a single work composed of five sub-titled sets of three images each. The first set "To the Cape of Good Hope" consists of three landscapes leading into Cape Town. "To work" follows a sequence from an informal settlement (which house a large proportion of the local worker population) to two industrial areas outside Cape Town.

"Bom Boys, Lonely Boys, Fancy Boys and Sexy Boys" are names of local gangs which operate in outlying settlement areas to where people were forcibly removed during Apartheid rule. These images depict three main entry points into Cape Town - two highways and the harbor.

The "Adventure Centre" images are from the city centre, specifically a popular recreation area of clubs, bars, agencies for tourist expeditions into Africa, informal work for African refugees, and a high concentration of displaced children.

"Mountain View" depicts the same area with reference to the mid and late 20th century when a number of businesses were called "Mountain View". The area housed and served a mixed community of legal and illegal business, brothels, gangsters and displaced people, despite Apartheid control.

© Text: Jane Alexander
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