Zak Benjamin's 'Condemned'

- a series of watercolour portraits

In 2003, Zak's friend and fellow artist Gert Swart gave him a book for his birthday. Gert's dedication read:

"Dear Zak, a sombre book for your birthday? No, I hope it will inspire you as you walk in faith,

against all odds - with a cloud of witnesses to reassure you that Christ, our hope, is all."

For many years Zak avoided reading Innocent Blood, Executions during the Anglo-Boer War by Graham Jooste and Roger Webster. When he finally did, he wept. He peered at the faces in the old photographs of men - the so-called Rebels - taken just before they died. His response is recorded in these 22 individual A4 watercolour portraits. Together they constitute a single work of art first exhibited at Zak Benjamin's Retrospective Exhibition at the Oliewenhuis Art Musem in Bloemfontein in 2011. The portraits do not resemble any particular individuals, nor are they merely a comment upon man's inhumanity to man. This work of art contemplates the human condition, wherein we are all condemned as soon as we are born.

The work, consisting of 22 individual watercolour portraits, is available for ZAR 55000