"South African Coloring Book,
Edition No. 12/20"

Gavin Jantjes was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He studied at the University of Cape Town. Jantjes was a member of the Arts Council of Great Britain from 1986 to 1990, and an adviser to the Tate Gallery, Liverpool, from 1992 to 1995. He is the author of "Fruitful Incoherence: Dialogues with Artists on Internationalism".

Jantjes' works are held in London's Victoria and Albert Museum and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art in Washington, among others.

Taking his cue from apartheid race classifications — white, black, Indian and colored — Gavin Jantjes turns the legalized labeling and segregation of people into a sarcastic and poignant critique of the harsh realities of South Africa's brutal policies.

His prints take the form of a paint-by-number coloring book. Incorporating found photographs and imagery of recognizable events such as the Sharpeville Massacre or photographs of the exploitation of workers, Jantjes inserts phrases such as "Colour These People Dead" or "Colour This Labor Dirt Cheap" to attach a more critical label to the items depicted.

The artist has stated, "We are, in a manner of speaking, freedom fighters in the battlefield of culture."