Every Man
2010
porcelain clay and black underglaze stain
950 x 210 mm
About the artwork
Most monuments commemorate celebrated public figures so Marais deliberately chose to sculpt the Everyman – the ordinary person in the street who is a hero in their own life. The Everyman is powerful, especially when acting as a collective; think of the migrations on rickety boats across the Mediterranean sea. Marais’ figure symbolises universal longing for the basic necessities in life: safety, health, peace, education for their children. Everyman’s pose is of hopeful supplication, looking to the heavens – the spiritual and metaphysical realms – at mysteries more powerful than humankind.
Ann Marais has been working with clay since 1970 and professionally since 1977. She is also a multi-media sculptor, curator, writer and critic for ceramic publications, speaker, selector, awards judge, workshop presenter, moderator, occasional teacher, and occasional lecturer. She graduated from Rhodes University with a BFA degree (cum laude) in 1991, with majors in Sculpture and Theory of Art. She has participated in over 250 exhibitions locally and overseas including in France, Italy, New Zealand and Hong Kong, and completed a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, in 2005. Her work forms part of museum collections in South Africa and in Europe. Ann is a ceramic artist and sculptor, writer for ceramic publications, CSA selector, awards judge, external moderator, workshop presenter, occasional teacher and lecturer, occasional poet. Fellow of CSA. BFA Rhodes University, majors theory of art and sculpture. Since 2017 her explorations and figurative sculptures have been and are focused mainly on animals other than human.