Strauss & co - 15 February 2020, Cape Town

91  WILLEM BOSHOFF SOUTH AFRICAN 1951– Word Woes zsigned, dated 2014, numbered 11/40, inscribed with the title in pencil and embossed with the Timothy Foulds Print Studio chopmark in the margin etching sheet size: 92 by 120cm R40 000 – 60 000 cf. Related works include: The Writing that Fell off the Wall (1997), Wailing Wall (2017 previously referred to as Jerusalem Jerusalem ), Writing in the Sand (2000), Negotiating the English Labyrinth (2003). “The bilingual title, WORD WOES in English, implies a state of distress and sorrow caused by words, but in Afrikaans these same words instruct us to behave in a frenzied and wild manner. Under English/British rule in the early 20th century, the Afrikaans language was outlawed at school and in public service. In WORD WOES each English word might be seen as hiding a secret Afrikaans word that it had once failed to exterminate. The 290 words, each spelt the same in Afrikaans and in English, but having vastly different meanings, form the basis of the etching. To the English reader with no knowledge of Afrikaans the words will appear to be English only and their Afrikaans meanings will be lost. To Afrikaans readers the Afrikaans meanings will be clear and so might the English meanings since all Afrikaans speakers have a fair understanding of English. There is no logical linguistic reason for the choice of words in WORD WOES . In a way they are a Dada list – a mini Dada dictionary. Their inclus ion is strangely dependent on the throw of a dice, in this case the dice is the fact that the English and Afrikaans meanings of these words of the same spelling have absolutely nothing to do with each other. In Dada poetry for example, chance plays a definitive role. A book might, for example, might be opened blind and at random. The very first piece of text one might put one’s finger on is then used. This process is repeated until some rather quaint and refreshing selections of texts are obtained. This method of unfathoming [sic] ‘truth’ is also called logomancy . The selection offered by the WORD WOES text is the fluke result of truly conceptual happenstance.” 1 1.  https://www.willemboshoff.com/product-page/ word-woes 109