Strauss & co - 16 February 2019, Cape Town

43 29 Jane Alexander SOUTH AFRICAN 1959– Harbinger in Correctional Uniform, Lost Marsh signed, dated 2007 and numbered 27/60 on the reverse digital print with pigment dyes on cotton paper image size: 30 by 40,5 cm R20 000 – 30 000 LITERATURE Pep Subirós (ed.) (2011) Jane Alexander Surveys (from the Cape of Good Hope), New York and Barcelona: Museum for African Art and Actar. Illustrated in colour on page 158. ITEM NOTES Jane Alexander’s acclaimed exhi- bition Surveys (from the Cape of Good Hope) , curated by Pep Subirós and organised by the Museum for African Art in 2013, completed a tour that included Brussels’ La Centrale Électrique; the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum, Georgia; the Contemporary Art Museum, Houston; and the Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York. 1 Most famous for her sculpture The Butcher Boys made in 1985/6, Jane Alexander explores the hybrid form in her work, manipulating the body by combining the human (innocent) and animal (savage) forms together. The sight of these sculptural works can be compelling yet fearsome, evoking strong emotion. This is the iconic motif carried through her work which lead to her first photomon- tage series from 1981 to 1995. The work Harbinger in Correctional Uniform, Lost Marsh , is part of the se- ries Surveys: From the Cape of Good Hope. The series tracks the historical sites of the postcolonial environment in Cape Town from the rural to the city areas. The central theme forms around the environment, land and living creatures. The term ‘vulner- ability’ comes up frequently when discussing the work of Alexander as this can be seen in the sculptures represented in the photomontage as well as the landscape which reflects the history of space. 2 1. Anna Tietze. (2016) ‘Of Beats and Men’, in Jane Alexander Photo-Book: Photomontages 1981–1995 , Cape Town: Stevenson. 2. Artthrob. (2018). Jane Alexander, Harbinger in Correctional Uniform, Lost Marsh, [Online] Available: https://artthrob.co.za/product/jane- alexander-harbinger-in-correctional-uniform- lost-marsh/ [7 December 2018].