ART
DURBAN - ACCLAIMED fine artist Dr Nanda Soobben has had to put the official unveiling of a peace mural he painted in Chatsworth on hold because of the Covid-19 fourth wave.
Shortly after the July unrest, Soobben identified four possible sites at which to promote his message of peace through art. He chose an outside wall at the Aryan Benevolent Home, and he completed the mural in a few months, delayed by weather conditions.
Soobben said that, unfortunately, the unveiling of the mural in Chatsworth on December 23 had been put on hold because of the fourth wave.
“Well, the implications of the virus are far more serious!” he wrote on Facebook. The mural depicts images of, among others, Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada, Albert Luthuli, Mahatma Gandhi, Fatima Meer, Imtiaz Sooliman, Dr Gcina Mhlophe, Judge Navi Pillay and Kumi Naidoo.
“The aim of the painting is to bring about peace and a non-racial society following the unrest. It is to bring people of different races together and to bring about social cohesion.”
Soobben said he had conceived the idea after witnessing the racial tension amid the July unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and was also inspired by a mural he painted in New York 30 years ago, during the first Gulf war.
He founded the Centre for Fine Art Animation and Design in 1994 and through this tertiary institution many previously disadvantaged individuals have been equipped with skills to thrive in a high-technology art and design work environment.
Other murals will be painted in Peace Park, Merewent and at Phoenix Industrial Park.
Daily News