Nel, a Cape Town-based art hub that celebrates local talent and features many exhibitions of talented African creatives, is opening an exhibition of Willie Bester who has acquired wide international fame as a protest artist dealing with the injustices of apartheid. Throughout his long artistic career, Bester has created many paintings and mixed-media art objects to attract public attention to the inequality and poverty of people of color in South Africa.

Willie Bester as a Protest Artist

Willie Bester is world-famous for his unique visual language based on the assemblage of scrap metal, discarded materials, and everyday items that people often dispose of. The artist’s three-dimensional sculptures possess a depth and texture that speaks volumes about the inequality and misfortunes of marginalized people. By means of repurposing and recycling urban lifestyle elements, Bester tries to attract the audience’s attention to the themes of societal oppression and economic disparities across the globe.

Another powerful visual technique in Willie Bester’s art is collage. The artist combines photos and newspaper pieces with other materials and media to convey political messages. By means of layering the visual and textual pieces, Bester emphasizes the complexity and multi-dimensionality of modern socio-economic problems in societies. The themes of racial inequality and violence also form an essential part of his creative philosophy.

Color and texture are used as a distinct visual device in Bester’s art. Despite the fact that his works are mostly related to challenging and gloomy subjects, they are performed in bright colors and possess rough textures, often with metallic finishes. This way, the artist aims to underscore the inherent tension of the themes he explores, which is attainable by maximizing the visual contrast and enhancing the impact of the art object.

Willie Bester’s Exhibition at Nel

Willie Bester’s exhibition at Nel, which is titled Dialogue, focuses more on the artist’s recent works and contains many vivid assemblages. His mixed-media art objects feature disused car parts, items commonly found in scrapyards, and things that people may typically regard as trash.

For Bester, these small byproducts of human life represent creative, raw materials for shaping marginalized narratives and visualizing the experiences of people pushed to the brink of modern society. Works by this protest artist are densely packed with symbols typical of his artistic method, such as wires and chains representing social oppression.

Dialogue will open at Nel on October 26 and will be available to the public through November 23, 2024.

Photo courtesy of Nel