District Six 1979

This print, 'District Six' is by Gregoire Boonzaier. It’s like Boonzaier is wrestling with this scene, carving out these bold shapes with real force. Look at how the lines defining the clouds are so decisive and rhythmic, almost like they’re dancing across the sky. The physicality of the medium is really present here. The texture, that kind of rough-hewn feel, it gives the whole image a sense of urgency and directness. Notice how the artist has allowed the grain of the wood to show through in places, especially in the roofs of the buildings to the right. It’s as if the material itself is participating in the storytelling, adding its own voice to the scene. This print is very similar to the work of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and the German Expressionists. Like them, Boonzaier is using the print medium to convey a real sense of place and feeling. It is less about representation and more about how a place feels.