Keiskamma Art Project, Keiskamma Guernica, detail

Blankets can still serve as a tool of political protest in today's South Africa. In mid 2000s with South Africans decimated by HIV/AIDS, the government closed many rural clinics as both a cost-saving and a misguided health administration measure. This necessitated patients to travel using costly and undependable public transport, which meant that for some it wasn't just the clinic closing but all healthcare access. The members of the art collective Keiskamma Art Projects expressed their anger at the government and grief for lost loved ones through this artwork. It is made from an assemblage of found textiles including used blankets from the closed clinic, invoking the presence of those now absent. This is a detail from the work showing the blankets (machine-felted, grey with white stripes).