Written by Josh Marcus
For her second solo exhibition of 2025, Lorraine Marcus went back to basics. Not with her art, per se, which is as complex in its messaging as ever, but in her choice of speaker: her youngest son. Asher Marcus, who creates art in his own right through his architecture firm Hubo, spoke from the heart about his admiration for his mother as both a person and an artist.
“My mother is an incredible talent… She has the unbelievable skill to tell layered stories, with twists impossible to predict, in oil on canvas.”
In commenting on her uniqueness and rarity, he was not unlike the speaker at her previous solo exhibition: esteemed South African artist, Ricky Burnett.
Comparing her approach to that of his former student, William Kentridge, he remarked:
“One of the most remarkable things about Lorraine is that [she has always] staunchly defended the right to be Lorraine, loyally persisting in her nurturing of what it means to be the Lorraine that we know.”
This unwavering authenticity finds vivid expression in the pieces selected for this exhibition. Hosted by the Rabbi Cyril Harris Community Centre (RCHCC), and with an embargo on any depiction of nudity, Lorraine still manages to subvert expectations.
The most clear expression of this is seen in Boys Wear Pink, a commentary on the absurdity of policing the colours children wear based on archaic gender norms. As the mother to a queer son, she has stated her commitment to celebrating diversity in all its forms.
It is a theme that she further explores in the stunning Flower Boy. The boy represented is not wearing or surrounded by flowers, but rather they form a part of his very flesh.
Lorraine’s thirst for variety of experience is present in every other work, as well, whether in the drama of the visceral brush strokes of Stop Woman Abuse or the dark subtlety in the flowing colours of Two Figures in Rehab. A collection of portraits features distinctive characters, each envisioned as an interview subject, communicating a clear message: there are few better ways to heal our individual and collective wounds than through listening to the perspectives of those once silenced.
In its totality, Lorraine’s latest exhibition is an intentional act of resistance, celebrating the discomfort of resistance and reminding viewers that being a ‘square peg’ is not only courageous but necessary.
The exhibition is currently on display by appointment only at the Cyril Harris Community Centre in Oaklands, Johannesburg.