COLOUR ME, BY BERNI SEARLE

The series 'Colour Me' is a play on the racial classification 'coloured' under apartheid legislation, a contentious term which is heavily debated in post-apartheid politics, particularly in the Western Cape. In the work, I chose to cover myself with various colors - red, yellow, white, brown, in an attempt to resist any definition of identity which is static, or can be placed into neat categories. Placing myself or my body in the work, exposes other aspects of my identity, for example, gender. Exposing myself therefore involves a process of claiming and points to the idea that there are a range of axis that inform identity which are inter-connected, determining relationships of dependency and domination in any given context.
Berni Searle's website