Hou my vas Korporaal

This work is inspired by a 1986 song by James Phillips’ (AKA Bernaldus Niemand) titled ‘Hou my vas Korporaal’ (hold me tight Corporal). The song was a satirical probe at military conscription in 80s apartheid South Africa. It was released in the company of the youth-driven anti-nationalist Afrikaans rock movement of the same decade.
Michael McGarry’s sculpture continues the artist’s concern with the influence and effects of colonialism and western imperialism on South Africa and continental Africa at large.