The Butcher Boys

The Butcher Boys, a shocking and confrontational artpiece has arguably become one of South Africa's most recognised and potent anti-apartheid artworks. Created by Johannesburg-born artist Jane Alexander between 1985/86, the work consists of three lifesize humanoid-like beasts sitting on a bench. The figures are otherworldly - their skins pale with a morbid translucency, animal horns protrude from their heads, their spines poke from their backs, and their eyes are black, glossy balls. The beasts are devoid of their outside senses - their ears are nothing more than deep gorges in their heads and their mouths are missing, appearing to be covered with thick roughened skin.