Johannes Phokela (b. 1966, Soweto)

Cult of Reason

2023, oil on canvas, 120 x 80 cm.

On display at Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town. Photo: M.Sobreira / Alamy Stock Photo ©Johannes Phokela.

Cult of Reason evokes the beliefs and ideologies used by Europe to justify its colonisation of Africa. The baboon with one hand on a vegetable and an egg lying between its feet, refers to the indigenous inhabitants called ‘thieving baboons’ by Dutch migrants who took over large areas of their land. Lying open on the table in front of the animal is a book by Nietzsche whose ideas were used by the Nazis to develop their idea of a biologically superior race. Next to it is a book by Darwin whose theory of evolution influenced Victorian ideas about the supremacy of people of European descent. Books by Marx and the Holy Bible also lie nearby, no doubt an ironic reference to the failure of both to save Africans from imperial domination.