Notes

The present lot is inspired by outsider street artist Chickenman and incorporates broken war toys to symbolise the contrast between war and peace through manipulated word layouts. Boshoff uses "this ad hoc style of hyphenation in IMPI UKUTHULA. The words wrap around corners and are at odds with each other by meeting at right angles. UKUTHULA takes up three faces as UK-UTHU-LA. WAR becomes W-AR and is upside down next to PEACE, which reads as PEA-CE".¹ The unconventional display and angular placement of words on a multi-sided box create a sense of disorientation, reflecting the struggle to find peace within the chaos of war. The artwork critiques the prevalence of war-related toys in contrast to the scarcity of peaceful depictions in stores, highlighting societal imbalance. It also challenges the prioritisation of military spending over essential services like education and healthcare, ultimately advocating for a proactive stance against the reliance on military solutions, emphasising the losses incurred by all involved.²

^1. https://www.willemboshoff.com/product-page/impi-ukhutela, accessed 27 October 2023

^2. Ibid.