A review of The Animal – What a word! by Wilma Cruise
In her exhibition The Animal – What a word! on display at the 2023 Toyota SU Woordfees, Wilma Cruise mixes painting with sculpture, so that the viewer is constantly surrounded by her art. PHOTO: Nicolas Adamy
The question of language, or lack of language, in the relationship between humans and animals can explain and examine the nature of the relationship. How do we talk about them? How do we talk to them?
This is what Wilma Cruise tries to demonstrate in her exhibition The Animal – What a word!, on display at the Stellenbosch University Museum from 7 to 15 October as part of the 2023 Toyota SU Woordfees.
Through her paintings and sculptures, Cruise seeks to give animals a voice so that, for once, humans listen to them and not the other way around. In doing so, she aims to make viewers reflect on their relationship with the animal world.
Wilma Cruise’s paintings, as seen in the exhibition The Animal – What a word! are complex to understand and the viewer has to take the time to observe the details and read the text to try to get an idea of the artist’s intention. PHOTO: Nicolas Adamy
Disarming the viewer
Language is at the heart of Cruise’s work and she uses it to disarm the viewer by juxtaposing text and images in her paintings. One encroaches on the other and the two ultimately clash.
The sense of immersion in the art is omnipresent throughout the exhibition. The works of art are either large paintings or, conversely, a massive assemblage of small drawings contrasted side by side. By doing so, Cruise’s art absorbs viewers and gives them a feeling of vertigo in the face of this overflow of art and information.
In the exhibition The Animal – What a word! by Wilma Cruise, an entire wall is covered with drawings stuck together, inverting the narrative by making human beings feel inferior to animals. PHOTO: Nicolas Adamy
Changing the narrative
We often see animals from the human point of view, but in the exhibition upends this perspective as animals are questioning human beings.
When human beings are placed at the centre of the painting, it is not only to highlight their role and influence on the animal world, but to show that they are prisoners of their own perceptions because they don’t question the world and the beings around them enough.
Aiming to be more than just an exhibition, Cruise orchestrates a journey against anthropocentrism – the view that the human being is the centre of the world. This encourages the viewer to listen to the voices of other sentient beings that feel various emotions.
Yet even if the message behind Cruise’s paintings seems obvious, it is not imposed on the viewer, who is free to interpret them as they wish.