There are moments when art stops being something you look at — and becomes something you feel, carry and cannot ignore.
At 20 Hope Street, that moment is now.
Led by artist Ra Searll, Art as Witness: A Movement is not a conventional exhibition. It is a living, breathing act of resistance — a space where statistics are transformed into human presence, and where silence is no longer an option.
Funded by the National Arts Council of South Africa, the exhibition brings together 30 collaborators in a bold, emotionally charged body of work that confronts some of the most urgent humanitarian realities of our time.
It runs until 31 March.
And the public is invited — not just to view, but to participate.
When Numbers Become Names
Every day in South Africa, 117 sexual assaults are reported to police, according to South African Police Service statistics. Researchers believe the real number may be nearly twenty times higher.
But numbers can distance us.
This exhibition refuses that distance.
The Mass Grave of Our Gazan Family Is Still Warm
At the centre of the exhibition lies a haunting 40-metre canvas — a field of over 100,000 fingerprints.
Each mark tells a story:
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Green for the confirmed dead
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Red for children
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Black for those buried under rubble or uncounted
Three life-sized body prints anchor the work, grounding the overwhelming scale in human reality.
Visitors are invited to add their own fingerprints — a simple yet powerful act.
A gesture that says: I see. I acknowledge. I will not look away.
Under the Skin of Our Nation
Stretching across 110 metres, this installation presents 115 life-sized body prints — one for each sexual assault reported daily in South Africa.
Printed in blood-red acrylic, the figures form an unbroken wall of human form.
Accompanying them are words gathered from survivors:
Grief.
Rage.
Resistance.
This is not a record of violence.
It is a refusal of silence.
And it is still growing.
Participants are invited to contribute their own anonymous body prints through a consent-led process, with emotional support available throughout.
The Cost of a Charge
In a striking vertical installation, 40 child-sized body prints rise into a tower — each representing 1,000 of the estimated 40,000 Congolese children mining cobalt under life-threatening conditions.
At the top rests a single phone battery.
The message is stark.
The question unavoidable:
Could we be doing this differently?
Bodies of Law
Created in solidarity with the SWEAT, this piece centres a suspended figure caught between survival and collapse.
From its body pours legislation — the laws that criminalise and endanger sex workers in South Africa.
It is both sculpture and protest.
A confrontation with systems that remain largely invisible — until they are made visible like this.
Not Just an Exhibition — A Space for Participation
This is not a gallery where visitors quietly pass through.
It is a space where people are invited in — fully.
Ra Searll continues to accept participants for Under the Skin of Our Nation, welcoming:
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All bodies
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All stories
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All people
Each participant contributes a single anonymous body print in an in-person session.
No names.
No labels.
Just presence.
Resistance at the Table
On 20 March, the exhibition extends beyond the visual into the communal.
The monthly Resistance Dinner invites the public to gather for a potluck — bringing food, stories and lived experiences into one shared space.
There are no panels.
No formalities.
Just conversation.
As Ra Searll puts it:
“These dinners are not panel discussions. They are a potluck rebellion. Everyone brings something. Everyone belongs at the table.”
Art That Refuses to Look Away
What makes Art as Witness so powerful is its immediacy.
It does not reflect on the past.
It exists alongside the present — while the suffering it references is still unfolding.
“This is not art about suffering. It is art made alongside suffering… Every fingerprint on that canvas is a refusal to look away.”
And perhaps that is its greatest impact.
It does not ask for sympathy.
It asks for presence.
A Living Memorial
In a world saturated with headlines, scrolling feeds and fleeting attention, this exhibition slows everything down.
It reminds us:
Behind every statistic is a life.
Behind every number is a name.
And sometimes, all it takes to honour that truth…
is a single fingerprint.
Exhibition Details
Event: Art as Witness: A Movement
Venue: 20 Hope Street
City: Cape Town
Closing Date: 31 March 2026
Participation Bookings: art.as.witness.movement@gmail.com
