Biography
Each and every person’s life can be seen as a highly individual exploration of the experience of being human. That exploration may be as limited as a meme or as complicated as a myth. If there is such a thing as the evolution of a soul, then it might well be consciousness that elevates the quest from a bleak, one-track sojourn to a richly textured, never-ending journey. Another way of looking at it is that some may contribute a stitch; and some, a thread to the tapestry of human experience. Both have great value. The works of Cape Town artist, Surisa Surisa, chart a course through the myriad of nuances and shocks of being human. Each painting is presented as a meme; the collection stands as the more mythical testimony to our universal urge for greater self-realisation and fulfilment. It questions the popular notion that our self-interest is actually isolated and selfish; and instead presents a case that like everything else, self seeking is interconnected and interdependent, and not nearly as egotistic as we might presume. To explore one’s own life, as much as any other subject we might be inspired to delve into, has the potential to yield untold benefits, not just for ourselves. Alone, we can learn relatively little; but there is no end to the possibilities when we also learn from the reflections of others. And so, the trite lines we quickly draw to explain our world become blurred and surreal. Organically, we merge with the other, sometimes harmoniously, sometimes uncomfortably. Every recognition, and every failure to recognise ourselves, in the mirror of another is a different but equally valuable experience.
