“In Time is a Flat Circle, one witnesses a political-poetic collage in different layers of the archive. Between image, video and sculpture, we witness a permanent camouflage in which history, man and animal are demultiplied in a narrative and a mapping of memories.
Brits symbolically adopts the "oroboros", a Greek word that describes the symbol of the snake consuming its own tail and connected it to an archive of images published on social media of groups of former South African recruits. Many of these ex-conscripts fought in what is known as the "Border War" in Namibia and Southern Angola from the 1960ies to the late 1980ies. The oroboros presents itself once again in the black, circular strokes with which David erases the images, erasing the faces, in a sense vandalising them, thus incorporating the complexities of working with the inherited history of a post-apartheid South Africa. As Anfonso Dias Ramos states, Brits vandalises ‘the integrity of the original images, which were largely limited to scenes of male bonding and uneventful daily rituals, codifying the dominant way of talking about the war in terms of camaraderie and masculinity, ignoring the extreme violence surrounding it.’”
Image 1:
Installation view, Time is a Flat Circle
Images 2-13:
The South African Defence Force Facebook series (2010-12)
India ink on Incised Facebook Photograph. Printed on Baryta Photorag, 30 x 90 cm, 1/3+1AP, 2022.
Time is a Flat Circle
15 September — 13 November 2022 Movart, R. João Penha 14A, 1250-025 Lisboa, Portugal.
Curated by Camila Maissune.
Brits symbolically adopts the "oroboros", a Greek word that describes the symbol of the snake consuming its own tail and connected it to an archive of images published on social media of groups of former South African recruits. Many of these ex-conscripts fought in what is known as the "Border War" in Namibia and Southern Angola from the 1960ies to the late 1980ies. The oroboros presents itself once again in the black, circular strokes with which David erases the images, erasing the faces, in a sense vandalising them, thus incorporating the complexities of working with the inherited history of a post-apartheid South Africa. As Anfonso Dias Ramos states, Brits vandalises ‘the integrity of the original images, which were largely limited to scenes of male bonding and uneventful daily rituals, codifying the dominant way of talking about the war in terms of camaraderie and masculinity, ignoring the extreme violence surrounding it.’”
— Excerpt from curator Camila’s Maissune’s exhibition text for Time is a Flat Circle.
Image 1:
Installation view, Time is a Flat Circle
Images 2-13:
The South African Defence Force Facebook series (2010-12)
India ink on Incised Facebook Photograph. Printed on Baryta Photorag, 30 x 90 cm, 1/3+1AP, 2022.
Time is a Flat Circle
15 September — 13 November 2022 Movart, R. João Penha 14A, 1250-025 Lisboa, Portugal.
Curated by Camila Maissune.
︎Solo Exhibition
