199
SOUTH AFRICA
Diane Victor
White Women 1998
soft pastel on paper 117.5 x 69 cm

Diane Victor was born in 1964 in Witbank, South Africa, and studied fine art at the University of the Witwatersrand. In her painting a naked woman glances up whilst peeling off a strip of skin on her thigh to reveal the raw flesh underneath. Bloody abrasions bear witness to the fact that she has scrubbed her skin with the wire brush she holds in her hand. A female companion is also participating in the gruesome act of cleansing. The artist has explained that the drawing is an attempt to explore her feelings about living with white skin in South Africa. She comments: ‘I see pastel as a rather delicate, fragile, soft, and non-confrontational medium. Using it in the drawing of an image that deals with discomfort, pain, and to an extent ugliness, I attempted to create tensions between visual attraction and revulsion’.