Nellien Brewer Garden City, Kansas www.art.co.za/nellienbrewer
Phoenix #2 Digital print on aluminum 24 x 16 inches 2009
Too many women in the 21st century are victims of abuse—be it through human trafficking, modern-day slavery, child marriages, forced prostitution or other atrocities. In too many societies today, women are still treated as second rate citizens. Yet these women—from the barefoot granny raising her grandchildren on a meager pension, the lady in a slum working three jobs, to the AIDS orphan looking after her siblings whilst trying to cope with school—form the backbone of society. The work Phoenix #2 (2009) shows a decaying leaf. The delicate structure (and strength) of the veins are exposed as a result of the death of the leaf. Above the leaf is an ‘organism’ created from text which symbolizes the soul of the victim which is often only set free upon death.
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