Grahamstown artist Maureen de Jager has been shortlisted for a prestigious provincial award. De Jager, who lectures at Rhodes University's Fine Arts Department, is the only local artist among seven shortlisted for the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum's Biennial award in 2010.
Grahamstown artist Maureen de Jager has been shortlisted for a prestigious provincial award. De Jager, who lectures at Rhodes University's Fine Arts Department, is the only local artist among seven shortlisted for the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum's Biennial award in 2010.
The other six are all based in Port Elizabeth. The award aims to promote artists and cultivate high standards of art production in the Eastern Cape. "It's an honour," De Jager said of making the final cut, adding that the news gave her impetus to work on her motivation as to why they should get the prize – a document all finalists are required to compile. "Even if I don't win, I'll still benefit from it," she said, "because I was planning to have an exhibition even before I entered."
In her work De Jager, who has exhibited nationally and overseas, most recently in the National Arts Festival in 2008, attempts to capture old memories by re-using old family images as far back as four generations. Both her technique and her materials, including a flat steel sheet as a canvas and the sepia hue of rusting objects, emphasised the fragility of memory and how things could disappear over time, she explained.
In the work submitted for the award, (a diptych, or two-panel piece), De Jager included a photograph of her great-grandmother surrounded by her five children. It was taken in the Winburg Concentration Camp, in what is now the Free State, in 1901, where Maria and her children were held captive during the Anglo-Boer war. When she was released, Maria wrote in exercise books about her experiences in the camp, for each of her children, including Maureen's grandfather.
His manuscript has been passed down the line, finding itself in Maureen's hands. "My work is about continuing this family tradition," she said. The winner will be announced in March, and will have a solo exhibition at the museum (the dates are still to be confirmed). Previous winners include Linga Diko, a local artist and the co-winner in 2008, who is also part of the Egazini Outreach Project.
