11 – 19 Okt 2025
11 – 19 Okt 2025
Exhibition: Veldhospitaal
By: Casey-Lee Anthony
Photos: Gys Loubser
The journey to this art exhibition is what one would expect: A dirt road leading into a field on your way to healing through artistic expressions.
The exhibition is laid out to resemble a hospital during the war, with various sections of the hospital in different buildings at Libertas farm.
However, it is not just images or paintings on exhibition: It is feelings and expressions, which evoke many emotions through the meanings behind these artworks.
Upon entry, you may find yourself at the “heart” as this is the biggest building, carrying most of the emotions. The artists whose works fill this space have gone out of their way to make you feel what they felt in the process of making their work.
A few lip pillows on couches immediately draw attention: One zipped, another wired, representing the struggles with freedom of speech that women, especially, go through in certain situations.
Two mirrors show you which path you choose when self-reflecting, with a black mask on the right and a white mask on the left. The guide explains that this represents how we as humans decide which mask we will wear, either showing our dark side or our good side, and what we hide beneath them.
One of the more interactive exhibitions is the Sanatorium. It is dark and gloomy inside, making you feel as though you have entered an actual mental hospital, sending chills down your spine.
Each room has various elements to draw the viewer in. One room has two large canvases made for confessions, and viewers are given a chance to reflect in solitude and write down their own confession on the wall, allowing them to release anything they might want to let go of.
The last stop on the journey is a shed at the back of the farm, filled with hospital beds, hanging wax body parts, and X-rays that exude a clinical feeling.
Audiences are allowed to take a seat on these beds to watch performances on the stage in the middle.
Veldhospitaal is truly a healing and warm experience, unlike any other, despite its hospital-like setting with minimal lights. The artists welcome each person to engage, interact, and, most importantly, to feel.
This review first appeared on Stellenbosch Media Forum and is published here with permission of the Stellenbosch University Department of Journalism.
