Words like “slavery” and “freedom” are sometimes used without much thought of its real meaning and implication to many people. For Selvin November, a forty nine- year old artist from Cape Town, these words have a particular meaning. Records show that slaves who were sold in Cape Town in the eighteenth century were often given surnames according to the month of the year that they were bought and to Selvin November the connection is obvious. Real freedom, on the other hand, can only be attained if you believe in yourself, and as a so-called “Cape Coloured” with its complex history, this is not a foreign notion to him.
With this exhibition, November has used abstraction influenced by street art to express and explore these concepts.
“My current abstract work allows me the space to express my ideas using abstract language of line, form and colour. I employ elements of free form, which act as a metaphor for freedom. The bars represent enslavement, which represents the idea that you are imprisoned within the confines and rules of the system, socially, politically or economically. The use of expressive line drawings serves as an additional metaphor for freedom, thus creating tension, which in turn creates movement within the work” says November