You Shall Have No Other Saviour Before Me
You shall have no other saviour before me is part of a series consisting of embroideries on kanga begun in 2008. The combination of black, red, and white recalls Russian propaganda posters and the former presence of the USSR in the country’s politics. The colours of the letters (black, yellow, green) are those of the socialist party African National Congress. The artist invokes both the advertising and activist aspects of slogans, a form of language widely used in political statements, the media, and protests. By intertwining these symbols, the artist develops a critique of official South African discourse. The slogan of the work is a pastiche of God’s second commandment to Moses in the Old Testament (“You shall have no other gods before Me”). Lawrence Lemaoana thus uses the same process as the political class, which hijacks and instrumentalizes religious messages.
Text written by Léonie Maton as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin.
Exhibition
Galerie des Galeries, Paris ()
from 28 Mar to 10 Jun 2017