Gazelle - Postcards from Paradise

In an exercise to understand the cyclical patterns of history, artist Xander Ferreira deconstructs and reassembles it into inspiring objects of beauty. His work explores an intricate study of iconography and how the power of symbolism is used in socio political strategies. By creating a fictional ‘His Story’ through his satirical character Gazelle, a playful commentary on cultural propaganda comes to life while he looks at how narratives of generational storytelling can become self-proclaimed truths.

Postcards from Paradise came to life as a reimagined visual representation of South Africa’s nine provinces that were formed in 1996 as a performative fictionally staged commission by the government. The body of work is inspired by the iconic South African painter JH Pierneef’s renowned ‘Station Panels’ that were commissioned in 1929 to showcase places of natural beauty and historical value for display at the Johannesburg train station. This took place when the country was divided into four provinces under British Union rule and in later years when the country gained independence in 1961, the masterpieces were to become synonymous with an era of art seen as nationalist cultural propaganda from the apartheid government. To disempower the power of ever-changing politics through art, the artist set off on a quest to celebrate the beauty that lives in these creations of old and forge a new experience.

After visiting a chosen geographic site within each province and composing a fictional scene, a two-year collaboration with illustrator Llewellyn van Eeden commenced. Through an alternative take on magic realism, mythological and historical references got weaved into a fantastical balance of symbolic colloquial elements of landscape, fauna, and flora, in a manufactured scenography that unpacks how culture infinitely evolves and questions any totalitarian ownership over it.

Email info@llewellynvaneeden.com for print inquiries

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Beyond the illustrations lie an exploratory evolving work where the artist uploads manipulated imagery to Google Maps that change a historical narrative. Each geo location of the body of work is accessible through a QR Code that takes the viewer to the exact location where the fictional narrative was composed. This digital representation of the world is seen as a multiverse in its own, and the artist makes commentary on how the truth can be manipulated by forms of constructed visuals that slips past the algorithm of what is true and what is false. The viewer is enticed to explore the country and its provinces by engaging with the artwork location and create their own versions of the truth by uploading images. A selfie with a fake background becomes a historical artifact that one was there, while a manipulated monument can change history as we know it.