Keiskamma Altarpiece

This monumental, multi-panel artwork was created in 2005 by 130 women from South Africa’s Eastern Cape province—an area hard hit by AIDS—to commemorate the lives of individuals there who have died of the disease and to celebrate the community’s determination to prevail in the face of AIDS.

The Keiskamma Altarpiece was born in Hamburg, South Africa, a small fishing town severely affected by HIV/AIDS. Named after the Keiskamma River Valley, it grew into a stunning example of how the arts can foster international solidarity, commanding audiences in North America and Europe.

The Keiskamma Altarpiece was inspired by Matthias Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece, painted during the German Renaissance for a monastery whose hospital specialized in care for plague victims and sufferers from skin diseases. Made to fit the same shape and dimensions as Grünewald’s masterpiece—13 feet tall by 22 feet wide—the Keiskamma Altarpiece tells the story of the resolve of the women of Hamburg to prevail amid the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Dr. Carol Hofmeyr, the only doctor working with HIV patients in the area, gave the women of Hamburg needles and thread to sew pillows so as to supplement their income. When the women demonstrated uncanny skill and artistry, Hofmeyr offered the group more ambitious projects, including the towering altarpiece.

More than 130 women and a few men created the complex art piece, composed of several hinged panels. When fully opened, they reveal three giant printed portraits of local grandmothers with their grandchildren (many of them orphaned). The grandmothers are not HIV-positive but are pictured as nurturing cornerstones in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The town’s lone community health educator, Eunice Mangwane, played a key role in the project, providing information and support as the community produced a series of major artworks. She is pictured in the center of the altarpiece with her grandchildren (her daughter was HIV-positive).

MAKE ART/STOP AIDS brought the altarpiece to the International AIDS Conference in Toronto in 2006 and then to Chicago and UCLA, where it received its campus debut on World AIDS Day in 2006. Subsequently, it was shown at three Los Angeles churches—Holmes United Methodist, Hollywood United Methodist, and Santa Monica United Methodist—before continuing to tour across the U.S. and U.K. Exhibition sites included Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, St. James Cathedral in Seattle, Washington National Cathedral in D.C., and Southwark Cathedral in London. Sponsorship by St. James Cathedral in Chicago helped make this possible. Because the Altarpiece was too tall to fit within the Fowler Museum, it was displayed in the adjacent Glorya Kaufman Hall on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2006. After touring local churches, it returned to Kaufman Hall, January 10-March 11, 2007.

The vibrant and colorful altarpiece is composed of a series of hinged panels that utilize the imagery of the Xhosa people of the Eastern Cape to depict life in the region before — and after — AIDS engulfed South Africa.

The panels closed (Crucifixion panels)

The crucifixion is depicted from the point of view of people without material resources trying to find meaning in their lives. The somber crucifixion panels show a widow in traditional Xhosa mourning her husband who has died of AIDS. On her right are children orphaned by the disease and on her left is an old lady sitting on a bed.

On either side of this central panel are two Hamburg saints—wise old ladies chosen for this position because of their love for the community. Lagena Mapuma is dressed in a red Methodist church uniform and Susan Paliso wears a white shawl.

Panels Open (Resurrection)

The doors open to a vision of hope, redemption, and restoration. Images of abundant life with trees, birds, spiritual worship and harmonious traditional life are used to illustrate these ideals, including a local prophet who runs prayers in the sand.

Panels Open (Reality)

The final set of doors is opened to reveal life-size black and white photographs of grandmothers with their grandchildren. These photographs were taken by Tanya Jordaan. From the left is Susan Paliso (83) with Lihle (8), Eunice Mangwane (58) is seated in the centre with her grandchildren Akona, Lithemba, and Thabo. Caroline Nyongo (47) is holding her youngest grandchild Nomaxabiso (8 months), and is surrounded by the rest of her daughter’s children.

Above these photographs is three-dimensional wire bead work depicting Coral and Acacia trees, with the four Apostles as seen in the Issenheim altarpiece. Expert beadworker “Eddie,” from Streetwires in Cape Town, came to teach the women and men in the project this form of beadwork.

The predella depicts the funeral of Susan Paliso’s son who has died of AIDS-related causes. The funeral took place in Hamburg. It is drawn with all the details of a typical Eastern Cape funeral.