Ronald Harrison was a South
African painter. Harrison began painting at the age of 16. In the
year 1962 during the Apartheid era his most famous work was the Black
Christ. The Black Christ was unveiled at St Luke's Church. It
depicted African National Congress leader Chief Albert Luthuli. As a
result of this famous work he was arrested and tortured by the
security police. The painting was forced into the United Kingdom and
later banned from South Africa and was returned in 1997.
The Black Christ was the journey
to freedom. Harrison was nearly 15 years old when apartheid's
enforces arrived at Sophiatown, near Johannesburg, and dismantled the
entire black township within just a few hours. In 1995 the ANC
adopted Freedom Charter. The preamble stated that “South Africa
belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no
government can justly claim authority unless it is based on upon the
will of the people.” This is important to me because I feel like
this is the truth, if people live in South Africa they should be
treated fairly and with the same respect that one deserves. People in
South Africa shouldn't feel as though they aren't welcomed or that
they don't belong, they should be able to feel as though they are
love and being treated equally. It shows how things have changed from
then to now, because during this time period race was a huge issue
and certain people of certain color got more privalages than others
did.
Harrison was gravitating more
towards art. He pondered upon whether or not he could somehow
contribute to the liberation movement. As a Christian, Harrison felt
that the apartheid regime claimed the mantle of Christianity;
however, Luthuli, himself represented the other more emancipatory
face of their faith. The Dutch reformed church, which apartheid,
proponents belonged asked Luthuli to repudiate publicly this
representation as a crucified “Black Saviour.” Harrison viewed
Luthuli as a man of piece.
The Black Christ is super important
to me and it allows me to reflect. It explains the troubles faced
during Apartheid and how so many people struggled and if they spoke
out about anything they would be punished. It's good to know that
Ronald Harrison viewed Albert Luthuli as someone of peace and that he
didn't view him in a negative way. I compare this to today's world,
because so many things over time has changed, before no one was
really able to speak out about how they felt but now there is a such
thing called freedom of speech. Things are totally different than
what they used to be, although, we still face daily issues they are
issues that we can speak out on because of the freedom we now have
today.
I would recommend you all to view
or look deeper into the Black Christ because I feel as though it is
very inspirational and inspiring and it helps you to reflect and look
at how we as a whole have come so far. So many things in life that we
have, we should truly appreciate because back in that era most people
didn't have the ability to speak out on what they believed in.
Resources:
- "The Black Christ." Web log post. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.
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