Passport

by Floris van Zyl

Category

Painting

Medium

oil painting and mixed media on wood

Size

W:100cm x H:120cm x D:4cm (unframed)

Year

2011

$1 073

view to scale

This work is based on the old Pass Book system used in the apartheid era in South Africa. Pass laws in South Africa were designed to segregate the population and limit severely the movements of the non-white populace. I started with the idea of showing an old passport photo of an individual, also linked with the idea of governments contol who may and may not enter their countries. When traveling you become a face in a little book with a name and number. The background is a collage of photos taken on my travels and ended up bringing the concept to the front.

Floris van Zyl

N.Dip Graphic Design (Tshwane University of Technology), 1993

I am intrigued by the anatomy of faces, bodies and man-made grids, patterns, structures and designs, but also by shapes and textures found in nature. The same combinations occur in satellite images of the world – the organic shapes of land and sea, and the overlays of man-made patterns in cities and landscapes. Movement of people across the planet changes the face of our world and it influences these shapes and cultures.

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