Elders' Gift

CCAC #: 0590
Artwork title: Elders' Gift
Artist(s): Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi
Year made: 2006
Artwork type: Paper
Medium: Etching
Dimensions (mm): 420 x 300
Framed dimensions (in mm): 583 x 465 x 35
Edition: 19/30
Artwork series: 30 Years in Soweto: From Resistance to Leadership
Source: Donated by MTN Foundation
Year acquired: 2021
Installation type: Movable artwork
Location area: On a travelling exhibition
Signage:

The work seems to depict a procession of youth lining up to receive guidance from their elders or to make a spiritual offering, common themes in Sebidi's work. To the bottom decapitated and mangled bodies suggest the violence of the 1976 Uprising. Sebidi suggests that further violence can be prevented by listening to the wisdom of elders.

The Constitutional Court in its 1996 judgment certifying the new
Constitution of South Africa underscored the importance of recognising
the ‘institution, status and role of traditional leadership, according to
customary law, [...], subject to the Constitution.’

Themes: Soweto Uprising (16 June 1976)
Youth upliftment
Constitutional links: Freedom of religion, belief and opinion (section 15)
Rights of cultural, religious and linguistic communities (section 31)

CCAC 433012

Photographer: MTN Foundation
Photo copyright: Consult with CCT curatorial team

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NOTE: The process of photographing artworks in the CCAC is underway - we are currently working to improve image quality and display on the CMS but have included internal reference photos for identification purposes in the interim.