Sondebok - A solo exhibition by Rentia Retief

Monday, 14 November, 2016
Muratie Wine Estate
Sondebok is a solo exhibition by Rentia Retief. The agricultural setting of the exhibition evokes the memory of the artist finding solitude in the vast expansive fields of her childhood.

“I felt the necessity to question how I fit into the framework of the landscape I so earnestly adore. The image of the donkey appeals to me because of its humble disposition and history as a worker animal. The value of labour animals are directly linked to their physical attributes. For this burden I have great empathy, since I am aware of my own external weaknesses. Along with the scrutiny that is casted over my female body.”

A ‘sondebok’ is directly translated to the word scapegoat. The outcasting of an individual here refers to the tradition of ridiculing the donkey. "Most domesticated animals suffer cultural metaphors that are burdened upon them. “By asking what burden does the animal really carry and how do I relate with that, I consequently question my own belonging.”

Drawing the animal and landscape is a tactile process of applying dust to paper, as it depends on the sense of touch to imbue a physical significance in the act. Working with dust is a means of placing the artist on equal grounds, for ‘all is created from dust and shall return to dust after death’. “The act of drawing strives to connect the landscape, the animal and myself.”

The exhibition opens at 18h00 on the 23rd of November at Muratie Wine Estate and runs until the 7th of December. A music performance by Visser Liebenberg will take place on the evening of the opening at 18:00 Wednesday the 23rd of November.