Iridescence 2017 | Association of Arts Pretoria

A loustrous play of colour. An Afro-Indian exhibition in collaboration with Eunice Swanepoel.

Corné van Eck is inspired by a recent journey to India. While exploring the city streets of Mumbai, Nieu Delhi and Agra, she experienced a heightened sensory awareness: from lime to mint, saffron to crimson, turquoise to indigo, magenta to lavender.

Corné describes her observations in a few words: vibrant, colourful, noisy, smelly, dazzling, vivid, garnish, but wonderful. She depicts Indian people and doors in the slums and surroundings, as well as the Lotus flower. Corné urges the viewer to connect with these images and to engage with them emotionally.

The Lotus, India's national flower, has a message to convey. This flower represents divinity, creative power, purity, faithfulness and vitality. Vitality has the ability to love, grow and develop. It is associated with the power to endure and survive. Untouched by impurity, despite growing in mud, this aspect of the Lotus flower dictates how humans ought to live in their surroundings. Even though the Lotus is rooted in mud, it continues to float on the water without becoming wet or muddy. Corné experienced this spritually enlightened quality in the people from India, performing their duty with little concern for any reward and with a full liberation from attachment. A lesson that can be learnt by all South Africans.