Bruce Clarke´s parents are white South African political exiles who left the country in 1958. His youth was filled with visits from anti-apartheid militants and human rights activists; it goes without saying, he joined the cause.
Clarke sees his work as stimulating reflection on the world and the representations therein. Recognising that art provides a privileged domain of expression in a complex world, he situates himself outside of an overtly self-centred or over-personalised form of contemporary art, suggesting that one should not be a bystander in the face of history, but that individual activity can play a significant role in the making of that history. His art posits contemporary history against the writing and transmission of accounted history. As an activist in the anti-apartheid struggle, Clarke has always tried to integrate political commitment into his visual art research, placing his work in a current of critical thought.
Catalog 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair