http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/printArticle.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=373543&version=1&template_id=39&parent_id=21
Painting of dead Mandela draws outrage in S Africa
Publish Date: Saturday,10 July, 2010, at 11:50 PM Doha Time
AFP/Johannesburg
Provocative: A woman shows a newspaper report of the unfinished oil
canvas The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp by local artist Yuill Damaso inside a
shopping mall in the Sandton suburb in Johannesburg. The painting depicts (from
left) former president Mbeki, Democratic Alliance leader Zille, Archbishop
Tutu, politician Cyril Ramaphosa, Planning Commission head Trevor Manuel,
current President Zuma and former president F W de Klerk watching as Nkosi
Johnson, a 12-year-old boy who died of HIV, performs an autopsy on former
president Nelson Mandela. According to local newspapers, the African National
Congress called the painting 'an insult to South Africans
A painting that depicts a dead Nelson Mandela undergoing an autopsy provoked
outrage yesterday in South Africa, but the artist who created the work has said
it is a tribute to the iconic leader.
The painting by local artist Yuill Damaso depicts South Africa's first black
president's dead body on an operating table, undergoing an autopsy as prominent
South African political figures look on.
The work, which is on display in an up-market Johannesburg shopping centre, has
drawn outrage from South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC).
"The ANC is appalled and strongly condemns in the strongest possible terms the
'Dead Mandela' painting," the party said in a statement. "It is in bad taste,
disrespectful, and it is an insult and an affront to values of our society."
The ANC called the painting "racist" and criticised the artist for depicting
Mandela as dead, saying that it was considered an act of witchcraft in African
society.
But Damaso said he meant no disrespect to the hero of South Africa's
anti-apartheid struggle.
"It shows Mandela's flesh and bones, which shows that he was a man, just like
every one of us," the artist told the Saturday Star. "He achieved great things
by working hard, and he has so much influence on the country and the world, but
the painting shows that he is just an ordinary man."
The painting, a modern take on Rembrandt's 17th-century work The Anatomy Lesson
of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, shows Mandela lying on an autopsy table as the late Nkosi
Johnson, a child Aids activist who died at 12, cuts into his flesh. A group of
South African leaders crowds around the table, including Nobel Peace Prize
winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Jacob Zuma, former president Thabo
Mbeki and opposition leader Helen Zille.
Mandela, who turns 92 on July 18, has limited his public appearances in recent
months as his health has become increasingly frail.
South Africans hope he will attend today's World Cup final, but his foundation
has said he and his family will only make a decision the day of the game.
He was due to attend the tournament's opening ceremony on June 11, but
cancelled after his great-granddaughter was tragically killed in a car crash on
the eve of the tournament.
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