It was during her Master of Fine Arts studies at Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand that Jane Alexander produced one of her most defining works, The Butcher Boys (1985–86). The sculptural trio, human in scale but monstrous in demeanour, is fascinating and abhorrent almost in equal measure. Alexander demonstrated great skill in balancing abjection and desire, urging audiences to turn away, while they find themselves stealing glances at the same time. Since her MFA graduation in 1998, Alexander has worked primarily in figurative sculpture, photomontages, photography, and video. Her work is often said to address the South African apartheid regime and its constructed and contested social environments. Still, Alexander has consistently avoided any direct references to political metaphors or signifiers in her anthropomorphic sculptures, maintaining an unsettling ambivalence in both form and function. Five of her sculptures are shown in this exhibition: Representative in law enforcement jacket (2006–14), Emblem (2025), Beast (2003), Bird in Step Out Tunic (2024), and Monitor (2023), the latter with references to the manifestation of the realities of pandemics. The consistency in Alexander’s sculptural signature in this context transcends a mere mastery of technique. Here, again, one encounters another set of compelling characters, each with names that can only be read as hints to what the figures could signify in the current conjuncture. One could imagine them as messengers, but their message remains opaque, at best.

WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION: Council with emblem (2025), consisting of: Monitor (2023), mixed media, found and custom-made garments, metal base with pin, 125 × 34 × 22 cm; Representative in law enforcement jacket (2006–14), polyester, oil paint, found garment, found chair, 140 × 61.5 × 50 cm; Bird in Step Out Tunic (2024), mixed media, found and custom-made garments, metal base with pin, 120 × 22 × 24 cm; Beast (2003), polyester, oil paint, 37 × 23 × 56 cm; Emblem (2025), wild olive rods, found axe, 4 found machetes, 3 found sickles, leather strap, 66 × 68 × 16 cm; Carpet, wool, 150 × 425 cm. Courtesy of the artist