Artist Caitlin Greenberg wanted to host her exhibition on the plot where the serial killer that is the catalyst for her art once lived.
She was raised in Waverley in Pretoria‚ a few kilometres from Capital Park which Gert van Rooyen once roamed.
Van Rooyen and his lover Joey Haarhoff are suspected to have kidnapped‚ sexually assaulted and killed at least six girls between 1988 and 1989 on one of South Africa’s most infamous crime sprees. Van Rooyen shot Haarhoff and then committed suicide on January 16 1990 after being pursued by police.
Greenberg however abandoned the idea of setting up the exhibition where Van Rooyen lived in Malherbe Street due to ethical considerations.
Her exhibition “Shadow-Light” is for her Master’s Degree at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). When you enter the exhibition the large portrait of Van Rooyen looms over the dark room. It is made up of small mosaic blocks partially filled with photographs of their alleged victims - Fiona Harvey‚ Joan Horn‚ Yolande Wessels‚ Odette Boucher‚ Anne-Marie Wapenaar and Tracy-Lee Scott-Crossley. The girls were never found.
“It was almost trying to give back the girls’ identity‚ because their identity was taken away from them by this massive portrait within the media‚” said Greenberg.
She grew up with the fear of a “stranger oom” that might abduct her.
Greenberg’s thesis drew on the ideas of Siegmund Freud‚ Carl Jung‚ Friedrich Nietzsche‚ Marshal McLuhan and Jean Baudrillard which she applied to the serial killers Van Rooyen‚ Ted Bundy‚ the movie Natural Born Killers‚ and the books and television series Dexter as case studies. She wanted to tease out the “shadow” within humanity and the media’s interest in the macabre.
“Is it because we don’t understand that side of humanity … Where does that dark side exist?”
Greenberg believes our dark side goes back to our survival roots.
“It shouldn’t be suppressed and hidden. It should be acknowledged.”
The exhibition opened on Saturday and runs until January 28.
“Most people walk in and they say that they feel that form of macabre in the space‚” Greenberg said.
“Installation art also creates emotions. Walking into the art‚ being part of the artwork‚ that’s installation.”
Greenberg started with focusing on this subject in 2014. She is considering doing a PhD in the future.
“I think I will give my mind a bit of a break for now.”
