GEORGE MILWA MNYALUZA PEMBA (SOUTH AFRICAN, 1912-2001) At the Clinic si
Provenance : Provenance A private collection, South Africa. From the 1940s, Pemba committed himself to accurately recording the lives of black South Africans in the townships of Port Elizabeth, and along the Eastern Cape. Although the artist professed to have no interest in politics, his detailed depictions of the hardships suffered by residents of New Brighton communicate his opposition to the Apartheid regime. Pemba›s artworks do not overtly criticise the state; they are painted from the viewpoint of a passive observer. At the Clinic portrays a woman and her baby at the doctor›s surgery. The mother›s head is bowed, her face weary and prematurely wrinkled. She is nursing her infant, but the act is draining her last reserves of energy. The doctor proffers a single pill; a wholly inadequate prescription. With this painting, Pemba is holding up the mirror to society. The township clinic is too ill-equipped to help the exhausted mother and her ailing baby, exposing the failings of the Apartheid regime. Bibliography S. Hudleston, Against All Odds: George Pemba, his life and works, (Johannesburg, 1996), pp.63-64.
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