Zach Taljaard

History is built on confrontations and misunderstandings. I see this site as a peaceful battlefield with a good outcome for all. Taking away peoples freedom to enjoy God’s gifts to humanity saddened me and made me realize how selfish we can become to claim what we don’t own. I decided to rather work with the outcome of the event than the event itself. The boy was given the freedom by the action of many to dream about a better future. The boy embodies new life and a new future for all, the bench refers to the past and the wrongs done as it reflects “Whites only” signs, and the boat becomes the vessel which will steer us into the future. There is a confrontation in the piece between the boy and the ocean. It is meant to invoke the feeling that: “No matter what we are faced with we are capable of overcoming it if we believe in ourselves” The final artwork has a simplistic beauty about it. I chose for it to have a modern feel as I wanted to focus on representing the future rather than looking at the past. The work will be installed on a very derelict ablution blocks roof, which will hopefully be fixed in time. But for me as an artist installing the work on such a site gives it deeper meaning, it shows that we need to build on the negative of the past to work towards a better future, we need to learn from our mistakes. The work deals with confrontation and the will to achieve a greater goal. A very young boy overlooks the ocean, clinging to a small boat. He is dreaming about crossing the ocean one day, he is facing the challenge in front of him with pride and childlike naivety. This naivety is what most dreams are made off. It is up to us not to shoot down these dreams no matter how bizarre they may seem, but to take up the challenge and realize them.

The scientific explanation of what really happens to a balloon when set free always dulled my fantasies of floating to far away places. Places inaccessible to trains and planes, places that only existed in my fantasy world. My mother, a librarian, introduced this fantasy world to me, a world beyond reality, a world of fiction where gravity did not exist and not even the sky was a limit.

My work is a nostalgic look at forgotten times. Her skin that of Snowhite and her dress and shoes reminds of those of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. By closing her eyes she starts her journey the spectator can only imagine where she is heading or where she is coming from. She holds the key to her story, her dress reflects the sky and the balloon pulls her closer to where her imagination will take her, a different world, a world, which will give only her pure pleasure.

The chain of events which became South Africa’s history left all its inhabitants alienated from their culture and dislocated from place. This feeling of alienation combined with dislocation was the core inspiration for the work entitled: “Bubble people” It explores the ways in which people from different walks of life are forced to create a personal bubble to adapt to changes in their immediate environment. This “bubble” can be seen as a physical space for example retrieving to our homes or it could be interpreted as our personal emotional space. With this bubble we encapsulate and cushion ourselves from the outside world. We lock ourselves away not only inside physical but also emotional borders and by doing so become more estranged from each other.

The work playfully deals with these feelings of dislocation as the balls float around without being grounded. Through the windows we see silhouettes of everyday people we pass in the street, voyeuristically observing but never getting to know.