Art

'Heliostat': Wim Botha art exhibit shines a light on the things that shape us

This brilliantly curated show brings together key works from the last two decades of local artist Wim Botha's career

25 November 2018 - 00:00 By Julia Freemantle

With a self-described antagonistic relationship to exhibition titles, Wim Botha has chosen Heliostat for the assemblage of works showing at Norval Foundation in Cape Town. A heliostat is a device that includes a mirror, which turns so as to keep reflecting sunlight towards a predetermined target, fixing the light in one place. "Many of the works deal with the travails of humans in the face of forces that are bigger than us. So, in the light of all these really big forces, the idea of having a moment where you can make the sun stand still is quite wonderful. It is a beautiful thing trying to understand the things that shape us, and for a moment to put a spotlight on a single idea," he explains.
The selection on show highlights key moments spanning two decades along his career trajectory and offers a snapshot of the evolution of the artist framed by the concept of refraction. Refraction as understood in optics is the transformation of light by splitting into visible a rainbow spectrum or the distortion through material such as glass or a prism.
This speaks to Botha's challenging of accepted ideologies - in transforming familiar symbols from European art, antiquities and his own cultural and political frame of reference he searches for their relevance within a contemporary South African context.
More literally it also refers to reframing his work with the perspective that comes with time - the exhibition looks at significant works over the course of his career retrospectively, as well as through the lens of the transformative power of light in how they're reflected by the dichroic filters throughout the gallery space.
"Inevitably, looking back on things, it is like time travel for me. I encounter my earlier self, decisions I have made that I can remember making," he comments.
The award-winning artist's work has become synonymous with a powerful use of iconography to comment on society and its various constructs - religious, social, political - and the things people do to make sense of things.
In his earlier works an exploration of his Afrikaans heritage predominates - in terms of how it shaped his world view - and a questioning of how systems can skew our perception of the world and belief systems.
"I learned that things are not to be trusted necessarily, not at face value. Things are not always what they seem. The same thing can have vastly different meanings to different people," he adds.
• 'Heliostat' is on until January 22 at Norval Foundation...

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