Centred around the themes of beauty, wounding, and transcendence, Thorned explores the ways in which artists look at pain and find meaning within it, transforming it into the works on show. The selection of works on display features an incredible roster of South African artists, including Wim Botha, Alexis Preller, Judith Mason, Cecil Skotnes, Cecily Sash, Helmut Starcke, Jackson Hlungwani, Beezy Bailey, and Alexander Podlashuc.
It is hard not to be struck by a sense of awe and drama as you walk into Gallery 1 for Thorned. The works glow with an otherworldly quality and seem to float like visions, illuminated in the otherwise muted interior of the gallery. And with Wim Botha's life-sized sculpture Scapegoat borrowing the imagery of the Crucifixion of Jesus, it is akin to stepping into one of the world's grand cathedrals, only now it is the artworks themselves that are the centre of attention.
Symbols and imagery
Religious imagery abounds in this exhibition. While Christian imagery dominates, in Thorned it is the inversion of this imagery – or the ways the artists extend the symbols used – which is most powerful.
Scapegoat by Wim Botha takes the crucifix, only now it is a satyr (a male nature spirit) upon the cross, the hoofed feet and horns not only pointing to the title of the work, but also bringing the figure closer to popular depictions of the devil. There is a roughness and pain to the surfaces of hardwood, anthracite, and resin. In looking at Scapegoat, we were both propelled to thoughts of Jesus' fourth saying on the cross, and his expression of doubt, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?", as well as to thoughts of those who we martyr not as heroes, but as villains or scapegoats, and the role that they play in history.
Beezy Bailey similarly draws on the figure of Jesus – though in Bailey’s painting, he is not on the cross, but instead accompanied by a woman dancing and a man playing the piano. In a poem accompanying the painting, Bailey writes, "Play us a song, Piano man, that we will / always hear in the quiet place of the endless sky." Here, the suffering of the conventional image is reimagined as a moment of frivolity and escape.
Positioned between the two works – and referencing the transfiguration of Jesus – is Transfiguration on the Pipetrack by Helmut Starcke. The painting holds a sacred quality and draws you in; a figure in flowing white robes stands poised, with a bouquet of fynbos erupting where the head should be. Scattered at the feet lie beer cans and a bottle, inviting reflection on the painting’s title. One wonders whether it alludes to the Pipe Track hike up Table Mountain in Cape Town, and to the kind of transcendence that can be found through communion with nature.
Also on display are sculptures by Jackson Hlungwani, which blend Christian imagery with South African cultural traditions. His work combines Tsonga and Shangaan woodcarving techniques with references to the African Christian Church, alongside figures of the Sangoma and Nyanga. Inspired by a powerful vision he experienced in 1978 while recovering from an injury, Hlungwani’s singular artistic output reflects a deeply personal spiritual journey – making each of his works a unique privilege to encounter.
Strange abstractions
Two founding members of the Amadlozi Group, Cecily Sash and Cecil Skotnes, are featured with Rose and Thorns and Crown of Thorns, respectively. Taken together, these works highlight the divergent approaches of these two artists, with Sash's lined abstractions in contrast with the dense colour of Skotnes' work.
A student of Sash, Judith Mason's works highlight the beauty within the ugly or disturbing, and the two works on display, though minimal, haunt you as you move through the exhibition. In 2004, Mason said, "I paint in order to make sense of my life, to manipulate various chaotic fragments of information and impulse into some sort of order, through which I can glimpse a hint of meaning."
While there are a few Alexis Preller's on display, Saint Sebastian I is the work that most stood out on our visit. Painted in the year after a suicide attempt by Preller according to Strauss & Co, it blends the image of the Roman martyr Saint Sebastian with imagery from West Africa to create a surreal interpretation of mental anguish and pain, the figure reduced to its most basic elements. In a similar merging of imagery, The Betrayal, South End by Alexander Podlashuc depicts the head of Christ with an African totem; the room they inhabit is incomplete and endlessly receding.
Moving through pain
Thorned is an exhibition that compels you to linger and sit in the emotions which the works evoke. Regardless of what the symbols on display might be, it is an exhibition which, in the rawness and vivacity of the works on display, propels you to both see and feel the work. Be it the pain of a death, a breakup, a betrayal, or a wound, it arises out of a loss of wholeness, a change in what you accepted as unchanging.
In her essay on the poems of the Ancient Greek poet Mimnermos, Anne Carson writes, "We had been seduced into thinking that we were immortal and suddenly the affair is over." This is what Thorned asks us to look at: the moment when the affair is over, and what might come after.
Thorned is on show at Gallery 1 at Keyes Art Mile until Sun, Jan 11, 2026. Gallery 1 is open Wed – Fri, 10:00 – 18:00 and Sat, 09:00 – 13:00.
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