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Diane Victor, né en 1964
Victor, Diane Veronicique (SA 1964 - )
Confessions of a bell boy
Charcoal and pastel on paper, signed, 1992
238 x 107,8cm
Known for marrying a combination of intricate mark-making and difficult subject matter, Diane Victor's
highly charged and often controversial images have brought her international recognition. Working
primarily in etching and other forms of printmaking, Victor sketches mostly from memory and often uses
her own body and face in the scenes she creates. In this pre-1994 drawing, Victor depicts a fragmented
and yet crowded set of symbols, figures and backgrounds in a limited colour palette. Two central seminude
figures, a bell boy and a woman (Victor) embrace awkwardly, her hands preventing his confession
and covering his genitals. The bell boy, wearing the top half of his uniform, has his hands held out as in
a gesture of of openness and of vulnerability: he is perhaps an icon of baggage, a burdened history. On
his right hand a cross, resembling a mark on a voting ballot, becomes a kind of stigmata, emphasized
by his Christ-like pose. Beneath this central image a large rabbit sits atop what could be a ballot box
in a pose that strongly resembles Albrecht Durer's Hare of 1503. Symbolically, rabbits and hares have
been associated with fertility, sexual desire and resurrection. The drawing is loaded with other symbolic
references including a platter of fish, a pear, and a golden bell to name a few. In the background of
the image a mass of delicately drawn plants converges into a domed building, which is most likely to
be the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The image is separated into two planes by a gold strip of
writing that is partially concealed by small panels of drawings. The Latin word morte meaning 'death'
is perhaps the only part of the writing easily translatable. With this loaded array of references, symbols
and fragments, Victor constructs an image that surely must reflect the context of South Africa in the time
leading up to the first democratic elections of 1994.
