Beginnings and Endings / Endings and Beginnings, 2008
neon (Helvetica, snow white)
10 x 330 cm
Edition of 5 + 2 AP

The idiosyncratic practice of Newell Harry, Australian-born artist of South African and Mauritian descent, often draws from his own mixed ancestry and references the cultural agitation brought about by colonial migration and the associated complexity of identity, nomadism, diaspora and myths. His work is heavily reliant on the vernacular of words, phrases, and textures of these distinct places. Harry’s neon work compresses and mirrors the sentence ‘Beginnings and Endings’ until it is almost illegible. By injecting mischievous wit and playing with the clever placement of neon wedged between two walls, the artist questions the hidden meaning within language and subverts the semiotic codes at play.

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