The Murmuration of Starlings: The Butcher Boys - A Comment on the Victims and Perpetrators of Apartheid.

(Jane Alexander, The Butcher Boys, 1985/86.)

Three figures sit beside each other on a bench. Their ash white skin, black eyes and almost featureless faces overpower the viewer with an ethereal overtone. This artwork is considered to be one of the most seminal protest pieces of the anti-Apartheid era, and while the artist Jane Alexander was not active in the resistance movement and the three grotesquely haunting figures have no mouths to convey their significance, the work screams of its political influence. 

When one considers the socio-political standing of South Africa at the time The Butcher Boys (Fig.1) was created, unravelling the meaning behind their deformities is clear. This is an artwork that embodies the emotional conflicts and extreme violence experienced by a country oppressed by racial discrimination. Many question who these bestial creatures represent. Is it the perpetrators of Apartheid? Or the victims?

In this essay I will discuss why I believe the three main figures in Jane Alexander’s, The Butcher Boys (Fig.1) can be depicted as the perpetrators of Apartheid rather than the victims.

At first glance the three beasts sitting beside each other invoke a sense of fear and repulsion inside of me.  It is because of this first impression that I believe them to represent the perpetrators of the Apartheid movement, as it is not often that one feels repulsed by a victim.

Brutality is a word we seldom use in conjunction with human behaviour and when this word is used it is not done so lightly. Brutality enforces how astounded we as human beings are that we could treat our own race like nothing more than animals. The Butcher Boys (Fig. 1) achieves the definition of brutality. It is a silent protest, an uncomfortable and blatant accusation to those who supported the movement. The way in which Jane Alexander positions the figures, the texture of their flesh and the symbolic details incorporated into their making all have a role to play in the impression they give off. The artwork sits on a figurative praecipe, balancing between intoxicating, nauseating, subtle and bold.

Disturbingly realistic due to the fact they were created with body casts, the figures are seated beside each other on a plain bench. They look thoughtful and serious and nothing like cowering or defeated victims. In fact with their slouched postures they can almost be depicted as uncaring, oblivious to the goings on around them. One of the three sits apart from the others, leaning forward, as if ready to lunge at someone. To me this is much like the government at the time. Uncaring and seemingly comfortable with the situation they have instigated while ready to attack those who oppose them at a moment’s notice.  However, to others the positioning of the slouched and uncaring postures could represent defeat. As victims they have given up the fight.

With their genitalia covered one could assume that they are genderless, for it might have been a male dominant government but that did not leave the women behind them blameless. Both genders could be found guilty of supporting and igniting what was the Apartheid regime. They cannot communicate with speech or facial expressions due to the fact that they have no mouths, noses or ears. They seem lost in thought and even if they could respond to any questions thrown at them, I believe they would remain silent and judgemental. Despite this many people believe that they are anguished, wounded and dehumanized. Whereas I agree that they have been dehumanized and wounded, (this much is apparent when you notice the gaping wounds running over their spines and the broken horns protruding out of their skulls,) but I disagree that they are anguished. Their blackened eyes hold no compassion, no pain or pleading instead they are cold and frightening, much like I imagine it would be staring into the daunting pit of hell.

Clearly the sanctity of their bodies has been corrupted and is now incomplete. They are devoid of all senses with ears that are nothing more than deep gorges in the sides of their skulls while their mouths are covered by thick patches of calloused skin. Their senses have been removed along with everything that makes them human, for now they appear to be nothing more than animals. In this regard I see the victimisation of apartheid. For did the movement not dehumanize an entire nation by taking away their human rights? Likewise, can this depiction not be used for the opposite effect? Did they not become beasts themselves for their cruelty? The dehumanized flaws the three figures share could represent the oppressors too. Reminding us that humanity is a thin veil that can easily be broken to expose the animal beneath. With no mouths there is no individual thought, as each oppressor shared one common opinion. With no ears they were deaf to the cries of the anguished, and with blackened eyes they remained blind to the true nature of their rule.

On one hand the combination of human form and animal parts signifies how the perpetrators stripped themselves of everything that made them human, to brutally control and alienate others whom they considered to be below them and their race. In doing this they removed their humanity and in this way Alexander conveys that only animals or beasts would treat each other as they did. Only these creatures are unjustly cruel. Through this meaning it becomes clear that perhaps the human race is the very worst beast of them all, as Apartheid was of course not the only example of human bestiality. The government was influenced and guided by History. On the other hand, the dehumanising of the figures could portray a contradictory meaning in that the victims were treated like nothing more than cattle that needed to be controlled or culled. With the violation of their rights they became subservient beasts that were denied a personal identity.

Yet I still disagree that The Butcher Boys (Fig.1) is a representation of the victims of apartheid. With no ears or mouths and blackened eyes these three creatures could in actuality be referring to the proverbial principle of the three wise monkeys - speak no evil, hear no evil and see no evil. This means feigning ignorance to the evil around you and turning a blind eye towards it, and is that not what the Apartheid government did? They knew what they were doing was wrong but they were blinded by their fear and hatred of the people they oppressed. With those black, uncompassionate eyes I can believe it to be true. It is said that a person’s eyes are the mirrors to their soul. If they are indeed the mirrors to their souls they either have none or it has turned black with their arrogance and crimes against humanity. A mirror that is linked to every oppressor in history and the human beast they created through their violence. These pupil-less and Iris-less eyes are once again displaying a linked mind, a common viewpoint. When I examine those blackened eyes I am immediately reminded of the various depictions of demon possession, and yet, if I turn and study them from different angles I can almost see the soft expressionless eyes of the victims.

Nevertheless the ultimate argument we are left with is the horns. The symbolism behind horns is vast and often uncontradicted in the fact they almost always represent evil. The Christian perception is that horns represent the devil. The devil has horns, is something that the media, literature and art has reiterated to us in various forms throughout history. Perhaps we have been brainwashed by this constant and ever present symbolism and rather than coming up with our own perception we accept that horns are evil. Therefore they are the perfect representations of Apartheid and the ruling government. They are thus significant in bringing hell to South Africa for the devil feels no compassion.

From their indifferent, pitiless postures to their blackened, uncompassionate eyes it is evident that the three of them share a linked mind and a common viewpoint. With their symbolically evil horns and the overwhelming fear they exhume, what better example could be used to represent the perpetrators of Apartheid. The Butcher Boys (Fig.1) illustrate a nation whose leaders lead them astray, whose policies terrified a society to the point where the beast within was revealed and at the same time revealing our potential for brutality.  Not only is it a silent protest but the artwork serves to convey one very important message too, without compassion and the lessons taught by history we are nothing more than beasts wearing human skin.  Therefore this is why I believe that the three grotesque figures that make up the artwork entitled The Butcher Boys (Fig.1), represent the perpetrators of Apartheid.