Deborah Bell
Deborah Bell works in a number of mediums, including painting, drawing, printmaking, animation and ceramic sculpture. She has participated in many solo and group shows, both locally and abroad since 1982. From 1986 to 1997 she collaborated with Robert Hodgins and William Kentridge on various projects. The most recent collaboration is entitled Ubu and the Truth Commission, reflecting on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that was set up in South Africa to address the crimes of apartheid.
She describes her latest works on paper in a statement for the Hourglass Project exhibition catalogue for "A Woman's Vision" held in 1999:
"This work is an extension of themes that I have been working on for the last few years. I have been spending time in museums and browsing through books and newspapers, recording images from history (which I see as reflecting the emotions of mankind) and weaving them together in poetic conjunctions to create some meaning of where we stand in relation to our past. In this work I write a poem which says in part,... images sediment history's emotion, whilst I ride the wind, and span the light on the serpent's back, and feel at my feet the soil's turning to the sun. The mirror cracked, time once more begun....
These prints are about a spiritual transformation which overlays an accretion of images and artefacts reflecting events and emotions of our history. A history remembered, yet transfigured - a promise for the new millennium."
About Ulysses Series
Ulysses I and II share the same line plate, and Ulysses III and IV share the same line plate. Each print has a separate aquatint plate from the sugarlift process which is printed in colours. The plates were originated by the artist with Maurice Payne at Artists' Proof Studios, Newtown in 2001 with subsequent proofing and steel-facing of the plates at Galamander Press, New York in 2002. The prints were editioned at David Krut Print Workshop, Johannesburg.