Marlene Dumas’ painting is a labyrinth of the imagination. To fully understand its cultural and psychological background, we need to think back at where Dumas grew up: in South Africa under the Apartheid, between the nineteen-fifties and sixties. Here, in a context dominated by the Afrikaans culture and language, Dumas learned to face ethical and moral issues, and she developed a sensitivity towards the ambiguities of our existence. Dumas started her studies in South Africa, but she truly became an artist only after moving to Amsterdam, and focusing on her craft with determination. The style and poetic of Dumas breaks new ground starting from 1985, and her exhibition: The eyes of the night creatures. There is more than one common denominator throughout her decade-long career: as we can tell by observing the striking similarity between a work of 1995, and one of 1963 – when Marlene was just ten-years old.
With the contribution of Marlene Dumas, Marlene Van Niekerk, Makwena Modimola, Olivia Laing.