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Maseru: The Certainty of Their Defeat Drives Them to Massacre

A work made of screenprint on white wove paper.

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  • A work made of screenprint on white wove paper.

Date:

1983

Artist:

Judy A. Seidman
American, born 1951, active in Botswana and South Africa

About this artwork

Just before daybreak on December 9, 1982, South African Defense Force (SADF) officers crossed the border into Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, to raid homes where members of the African National Congress were staying. The SADF killed 42 people, including 30 South Africans wrongly accused of being terrorists.

Judy Seidman modeled this poster’s drawing of bullet holes and an outraged crowd after newspaper photographs documenting the aftermath of the attacks. Among the rarest of Medu’s posters, this work was never mass produced or distributed because of unresolved disputes within the collective about the ambiguity of the figures’ hand gestures.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Judy Ann Seidman

Title

Maseru: The Certainty of Their Defeat Drives Them to Massacre

Place

South Africa (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1983

Medium

Screenprint on white wove paper

Dimensions

61 × 43 cm (24 1/16 × 16 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Artworkers Retirement Society

Reference Number

2018.486

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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