As a young, coloured woman who makes her living from art in South Africa, I am preoccupied with several issues that have historical resonance, such as identity, access and inclusivity. Being coloured, I experience my identity in a layered, nuanced way, which makes my ability to adapt to different spaces easier. However, I realise we can’t presume to understand one another readily, and my experience of racial ambiguity is reinforced when I am asked to tick a box on a form. Such ‘othering’ has little to do with the complex human being I am, shaped by my environment, my skills and my success. It is within this nexus that I believe that art can play a valuable role. Art can foster empathy and inclusivity, allowing one to feel at home even in communities with which one does not often interact.
Art can also play a major role in development, and this has emotional as well as spatial implications.
When communities believe in themselves, and there are resources and funds available to help them invest in self-expression, there is room for beautiful things to grow. Over the years, I have witnessed several artistic developments in community spaces, in which aspiring artists express themselves through murals and other public art forms, both physical and digital. T
here have been many such projects in Pretoria, where I currently live, which allow young creatives to learn and grow, to be taught and to learn how to trust themselves. There are undoubtedly great funding opportunities for artists in South Africa, but these are not available to everyone. A select few young
talents can access grants, residencies and similar opportunities.
The power of art should not be underestimated as it influences how people feel every day, how they experience their environments, and how they interpret the world around them in impactful ways that influence those who witness this. Art has an empowering role to play in many environments, and if South African artists were given more opportunities to get involved in uplifting projects, they could help to draw attention to developmental
and other important issues.
When I was invited to contribute artworks to the 25th edition of The Trialogue Business in Society Handbook, I was drawn to the complex topics discussed in the publication. Finding a visual language for the issues raised was daunting, but as I progressed, I found myself working through ambiguity and abstraction towards a nuanced, multi-layered vision of how the world could look.
The theme of this year’s Handbook, ‘Looking back, looking forward’, invited me to reflect on how we can learn from
the past, and reframe our roles in society. I used storytelling techniques to work with concepts and covers from previous editions of The Trialogue Business in Society Handbook (formerly The CSI Handbook). I wanted
to reflect the past while anticipating the future.
I began by sketching out concepts, plotting the outlines of the sketches, then filling the outlines with solid colours. I then explored the textures of paper, with the previous Handbook covers providing nuance and richness. Every element arose from a simple foundation – for example, the textures I used were created from a variety of brushes I had used to create the original designs. The previous covers I used were built up in collage format, and glitched to a point at which the text was broken up, like fragments of memory. This fragmentation technique allowed me to further build on the idea of reflecting on the past and preparing for the future.
Working on the project led me to reflect on the role of business in society. I think that companies have a duty to establish their vision and ethical stance, and to regulate environments in which employees feel excluded and unheard. Businesses have an important role to play in creating jobs and opportunities for communities. Additionally, they have a duty to take environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues to heart, since we invest so much in them as employees and consumers. We are stakeholders who deserve to have a voice.
I hope you are stimulated and inspired by the artwork in the 25th edition of the Handbook – it reflects a world I would like to see, and I hope you feel the same way.
Amy-Leigh Braaf
Source: The Trialogue Business in Society Handbook 2022 (25th edition)
