In drawing attention to how we and the media in general judge politicians and other people, I choose to represent carefully selected politicians in my artwork to tell the story. The deep and interesting story of Jacob’s Ladder in the Old Testament is about the sensitivity of purpose in bettering ourselves as we go up the ladder and the possibility of bettering the world around us when we are on the lower rungs. It is also an aggressive story about stolen identities, flight, perception and judgement. I use these aspects and more in the Jacob’s Ladder sculptures.

The people chosen to represent our judgments are Jacob Zuma, Winnie Mandela,    P W Botha, Evita (Pieter Dirk Uys) and Robert Mugabe.  One sculpture is called “On the Other Hand”. It represents ‘us’ judging everyone else. Another sculpture is created using shredded Zim dollars.

Positive and negative symbols characterise highly recognised individuals whose reputations are established and who are both revered and as much disliked, by millions. We put people on a pedestal as if they are demi-gods and are just as quick to see them at the bottom of the ladder when they turn out not to be perfect. We seldom give them credit for being human. We see them somewhere in the ‘grey area’ somewhere middle of Jacob’s Ladder. And yet to refrain from judgment does not mean to refrain from humanity - when it is clear that people are suffering, one should have the courage to speak out and take action. This is why I have concentrated on Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe in the exhibition. One of the sculptures relating to the Zimbabwean situation  uses the Zimbabwean National ‘eagle’ (a watermark on the Zim dollar). The actual raptor is a rare and beautiful bird. The image of a bird usually represents flight and freedom. In this case, I have used the bird symbol for an aggressive function - throttling the opening to the unusable ‘vessel’ (representing empty tummies) made of shredded  worthless dollars.

Aggression is shown in the forceful ‘Zap’ sign used in the sculptures. The middle finger and the hand sometimes represent not only the person, but in the Mugabe works it is also the constricted ‘lifeline’ of a nation.  These works are based on several anthropological transcripts of life history interviews done with migrants and entitled No Voice. I have downloaded the The Bill of Rights and deleted every word that has to do with human rights. The video presentation entitled “No Voice” uses those very words to obliterate the ‘voice’ of the migrant.

Nevertheless, in all the art works, I draw from the idea in Jacob’s Ladder that even when one is at the lower part of Jacob's ladder it can be positive. By doing good on earth amongst one’s fellow man, one can move upward on the ladder of life. 

 
Jacob Zuma
Snakes and Ladders are evident in the original carved wooden sculpture representing Zuma. This was motivated by the photograph in the newspaper of Jacob Zuma’s hand gesture as he exited court during his rape trial, where he raised his arm and made a Zap sign as a show of power. The snake, ladder and grid included in art are symbols for the ancient Snakes and Ladders race game called Moksha-Patamu. This game is Hindi and originated in India. It is a game of morality with ascending ladders and descending snakes.
 
This hand gesture could be seen as a phallic machine gun. Umshini wami, the machine gun song, is believed to be Zuma’s revolutionary trademark. Although it was sung in the Umkhonto weSizwe training camps in the 1970’s and 1980’s, in the original song the workers sang ‘bring back the machine’ a call for people to get work.
 
 
Winnie Mandela
Two kinds of stylised flames are used to represent Winnie Mandela. The hand holding the torch symbolises the hope and courage she brought to so many people, who regard her as ‘The Mother of the Nation’. Below the hand, there are more flames. This fire stands for the ‘necklacing’ which started around  1975, a sad legacy of the terrible execution method that Winnie been associated with in the media.
 
Evita Bezuidenhout
The artwork representing Evita, emphasises the importance of imagination and wit in communication and highlights the artist admiration for the courage that comedian Pieter Dirk Uys has had in exposing controversial issues, during a turbulent political time as well the work that ‘she’ has done regarding AIDS.
 
P.W. Botha
P.W. Botha is represented as his nickname Die Groot Krokodil  as the visual basis for this work. Wheels are used as a symbol of the Ossewabrandwag (Oxwagon torch guard), an organisation that Botha belonged to. The date 1985 represents the Rubicon speech which was the turning point in the demise of apartheid.
 
Robert Mugabe
Photographs in the media also show Mugabe using the ‘zap’ sign. It is ironic that a bird, in this instance an eagle[1], which one associates with flight and freedom, is the Zimbabwean national bird watermarked on the ‘Zimbabwean dollar. Woolf has used stylised elements of the eagle as a bird of oppression, throttling the economy, in all of the Mugabe artworks. The use of the blades in the graphic artworks as well as in one of the Mugabe sculptures is a visual translation of the pattern on the promotional shirts that are worn by his supporters as well as Mugabe himself.
 
Expired
An additional sculpture referring to the situation in Zimbabwe is also on exhibition. It uses a vessel, closed off at the neck by the bird. It is made of shredded worthless Zimbabwean dollars in place of the hand gesture.
 

On the Other Hand
One sculpture entitle “On the Other Hand” stands apart from the rest. It represents all of us as we stand in judgement of others.
 

 
 
Artist Brief Profile
 
Woolfs prolific career has spanned several decades and continents.
She has had numerous solo art exhibitions in galleries and museums in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Atlanta, Washington and New York. Her work appears in corporate and private collections in South Africa, England, Italy and America.
 
Susan Woolf is presently documenting taxi hand signs in South Africa for sighted and blind people, which will be the subject matter both for an exhibition in 2010 and her current doctoral thesis in Anthropology and Art at Wits University. It was these hand signs that precipitated and inspired the sculptured hand in the artworks for this exhibition. She has already published a Taxi Hand Book and her taxi sign artwork has been chosen for the National Stamp of South Africa for 2010.