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However, with his parents categorized as a mixed-race relationship, Bester faced many challenges growing up. They were denied housing in âColouredâ neighborhoods of
Montagu, while the only lodging for Black workers were single-sex hostels. In order to live together as a family within the township, they often lived in other people's backyards. At this time, there was very little organized resistance to apartheid. His mother's family rejected Bester and his siblings because their father was a black Xhosa-speaking man, rather than an Afrikaans-speaking âColouredâ person. Bester also bore witness to the constant harassment of his Black father by police and the farming communities in Montagu.
180:â he uses the life Semezaki, a retired migrant worker in the township of Crossroads, to show the life experiences of all migrant laborers under apartheid. The bed coils in front of a figure double as a jail cell, highlighting how Semezaki, like many others, were often apart from their families, supporting them with jobs they find in townships. Within this same piece, he also includes the image of a
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Upon joining the
Community Arts Project in 1986 as a part-time art student, Bester was surrounded by South Africans who openly attacked the apartheid system, which was highly unusual at the time. This inspired his first two mixed-media pieces, âForced Removalâ and âDon't Voteâ. During his four years
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for these portrait-like pieces, which has a long history in
European portraiture, to restore human dignity to the Black and Coloured people he portrays. As his work evolved, Bester moved away from addressing the impact of apartheid laws, to celebrating the indomitable spirit of the oppressed people
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During childhood, Bester showed a natural talent for art. He was known to create and sell toy cars and animals from wire, creating headlights from candles and discarded tin cans. He won an interschool art competition after encouragement from a school teacher who recognized his interest in painting.
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In his late teens, Bester, like many townships and rural youth in similar situations joined the South
African Defence Force. He spent a year there, and another in a military camp for unemployed black youth. He later became a dental assistant. During the 1980s, resistance movements like the
250:ââ. Though some see Bester's use of Sara Baartman's image as a reclamation from a biased European viewpoint, protesting students claim that displaying it in the university has the potential to reinforce negative racial and sexual biases that linger from apartheid.
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Bester also is conscious of the materials and their placement in his pieces. Often, his collection of found objects are discarded refuse from townships, which are then assembled to represent life and settings within townships. In his work
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The subject matter he depicted in his works were of the communities oppressed under apartheid. Bester often used the human body as a vehicle of narration, especially in works depicting individuals. In his work
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Much of his subject matter is reflective to the history of apartheid, both in townships and his own personal accounts. He is also known for using the human form as a narrative tool, compared to artists like
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were repealed in 1986. Even after they were repealed, Semezaki continued to carry his passbook until he was killed by gangsters, one month after the completion of ââMigrant
Laborerââ in 1993.
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Bester has continued to produce works, continuing to advocate for human rights and humanity in the wake of apartheid. He has received an
Honorary medal for the promotion of Fine Arts from
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in 1993, who played a large role in the anti-apartheid movement. In these works, he not only brings attention to the accomplishments of the individual, but also the unjust actions of the
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House, Gloria, Alison Kenzie,.und Art
Gallery of Windsor. Willie Bester: apartheid laboratory : Art Gallery of Windsor, February 24-June 17, 2007. Art Gallery of Windsor, 2008.
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responded to artworks on display being defaced during student protests by taking them down or covering them on grounds of vulnerability to damage, including Bester's piece ââ
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139:. Bester has been noted as one of the strongest opponents to apartheid, creating much resistance art to garner protest from other South Africans.
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22:(born February 29, 1956) is a South African painter, sculptor and collage artist. He is best known for his role in the protesting of the
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under the apartheid system. He was born before they were married and was therefore categorized as
Coloured, taking his mother's name.
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2003 Suidoos
Festival, Peninsula Technikon 'Coexistence- Contemporary Cultural Production in South African' Rose Art Museum, USA
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de Jong, Anneleen (2000). "Portraying a Story: The
Narrative Function of the Human Form in Contemporary Art of South Africa".
596:. Publ. to Accompany the Exhibition at the Old Town House, Cape Town and at the Sanlam Art Gallery, Bellville, 2007 and 2008.
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1993 Venice Biennale, INCROCI DEL SUD: An exhibition of works by 27 contemporary South African Artists
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i, he expresses his anger at the violence through the burnt state of wood in the center of the piece.
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and paint. His use of found objects in collage to represent the real world have been compared to
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1995 DIALOGUES OF PEACE, Exhibition for the UN's 50th Anniversary, Palaise Des Nations, Geneva
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in CAP, Bester began to work bigger and experiment with spatial structure and photography.
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Hill, Shannen (1999). "Reviewed Work: Thirty Minutes: Installations by Nine Artists".
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1994 UN ART CONTEMPORIAN D'AFRIQUE DU SUD, Galerie De L'Esplanade, La Defence, Paris
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1999 Claiming Art Reclaiming Space, National Museum of African Art, Washington DC.
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1999 Archivio Della Scuola Romana, Introdotto da Achille Bonito Oliva, Roma, Italy
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Is There Still Life? Continuity and Change in South African Still Life Painting
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Is There Still Life? Continuity and Change in South African Still Life Painting
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Ross, Doran (1995). "On Art and Museums in South Africa after the Elections".
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inspired Bester, who returned to his childhood interest in art by joining the
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2004 Africa Remix - DĂŒsseldorf, Museum Kunst Palast: 24 Julyâ7 November 2004
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1996 Contemporary Art from South Africa, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
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2002 Passport to South Africa, Centro Culturale "Trevi", Bolzano, Italy
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Hoxworth, Kellen (2017). "The Many Racial Effigies of Sara Baartman".
741:"UKZN Pays Tribute to Resistance Artist Willie Bester for Life's Work"
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1997 Galleria d'Art Moderna e Contemporanea di San Marino, San Marino
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Godby, Michael; Klopper, Sandra (1996). "The Art of Willie Bester".
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In April of 2019, Bester was awarded an honorary doctorate by the
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30:, South Africa with his wife, Evelyn and their three children.
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Konate, Yacouba (1998). "Willie Bester: Engagé Et Engageant".
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2007 Rocca di Castagnoli, Biennale Internazionale d'Art, Italy
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1999 Opere Recenti, Studio d'Arte Raffaelli, Trento, Italy
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1991â92 ZABALAZA FESTIVAL, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford
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for his contribution towards the protest of apartheid.
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Willie Bester - CAAC Art - Jean Pigozzi Art Collection
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physically connected with a replication of Semezaki's
54:. His father was Xhosa and his mother was classified
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1998 Biennale de l'Art Contemporian, Dakar, Senegal
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1993â94 INCROCI DEL SUD, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
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2008 Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town
659:"Behind UCT's Removed Art: The Writing on the Wall"
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853:Dr Willie Bester: Biography at The Melrose Gallery
364:2001 Barcelona Contemporary Cultural Center, Spain
26:system through his artwork. He currently lives in
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331:1992 Primart Gallery, Cape Town
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99:. He is most notable for his
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238:Sara Baartman Controversy
207:In 1992, he received the
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211:for most original work.
160:, then-president of the
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903:Artists from Cape Town
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209:French Prix de lâAigle
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34:Life of Willie Bester.
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154:Tribute to Chris Hani
40:Montagu, Western Cape
279:1998 Emporain, Dakar
170:Tribute to Chris Han
16:South African artist
611:by Michael Godby".
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