Review by Hashim Tarmahomed:

The material palette is kept minimal, using everyday textures and consciously and unconsciously recognisable geometries. Constructed out of locally sourced plywood, each lectern stands in acknowledgement of the human scale, its wings vaguely reminiscent of the structure of the South African flag. Newsprint is used for paper elements, while standard-sized correx boards are used for the exhibition panels, onto which black and white photographs of the buildings are printed. On-the-ground materialities of political presences and vocalities like the newspaper and the placard are used throughout the exhibition to enact textures of agency. The models are pigmented after the rich colour of the Union Buildings’ edifice, the fragility of which is held in the hands of the visitor, symbolically subverting the power relations between state and citizen. Personal and intimate experiences are foregrounded within a space for the collective voice, especially during a moment of immense political distress in South Africa.

Situating the exhibition within a larger intellectual context, Jurczok-de Klerk notes the broader vision of the exhibition in its contribution towards imagining alternative methodologies of engaging the archive.

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