Rodney Benn The Artist Poem by Madrason .

Rodney Benn the male artist who cared about South Africa.

I acquired some of his titled works through his Dutch widow;

• To Mother providence
• Onward, symbol of hope
• Skukasu (Bring about changes)
• Suffering Solitude
• Ben's Eye
• Memory of a child grown death
• Tears for Fertility
• Ben's Cross
• Night Sirens

When I saw the deeply pressed etchings, almost looking like
woodcuts, I was grasped by deep emotions! ‘This is the work
of a woman in suffering', but Rodney is a male name. Benn,
the familyname is too!

Couldn't find anything on the internet, think it has not been
documented so well that it is already digitalised. But I felt,
this must be shown, this work touches the hearts of those
who recognise the beauty in the sufferings, expressed so
well.

The works probably date from the early 50ies beginning
sixties, during a boiling apartheids-time!
I digitised some tourist pictures from the late seventies and
in those times one could find plenty signs, ‘niet voor zwarten'
or ‘for whites only'. The works breathe a rare quality.(The etching issues where mostly drafted not more than 20.
Of the above mentioned, I acquired of each 2 signed and
handwritten and numbered pieces.)

see Photograph.

This is not so long ago. Imagine yourself growing up in this
hatred apartheid system, surely it has left it's marks on
anyone from that time, place and period, no matter the
backgrounds. Logical that in some of them resistance against this climate would grow with being raised in it.
Rodney surely must have seen enough of it and suffered from it, hence the ominous catchy titles as "Tears for fertility" if one has hunger, fertility will surely be an issue. Even though,
not reading the titles it says it all; Skukasu -see title page-
(Bring about changes) , a mother and child, breaking through
a wall and leaving the bricks behind for the wrongdoing
militias with guns.Ben's Cross.Poverty.Or thinking about Ben‘s Cross, he is a slave, an unfree person,
wants to change but is chained, it is a cross, which crosses
you, which burdens you just as in Christ's cross procession,
one cannot stop this misery from happening.

The beautifully expressed darkness of this imprisoned Self in
a small room in the dark. Darkness from guilt? Darkness of
being unfree or oppressed, poverty? Who decides who is
getting a baby and who is not, Providentia? Food, a good
neighbour, true Love or God? You can sense the feeling of
injustice, doubt, anger. All this desolation can be found in
Night Sirens, no sleep from worries and misery.

Hope Searched - Poem by Madrason writer;

God in this
Universe
I urge you
to please send
Notification
and too respect
our feedback
hear my call
might fall
for i am left
in disillusion
please don't dress
me with neglect
or in confusion
if i offer
unto You
my All! M

Etching: Night Sirens.

Good enough for acting in a tourist freak-show, but to sit in a
restaurant next to a White?
An exotic muse for the Western eyes. See, here we arrive at
a work called Ben's eye. I wonder what was going on here?
Could his seed of love not be prolongated by life! Was he
desperate to procreate love but things blocked this from
happening. The bird standing on water guarding an egg-crosspreventing the "underworld" seed to reach it. The water, the deep symbols of reflections of the unconscious.

Etching: Ben's Eye.

Baby Cries - Poem by Madrason writer

Baby cries, baby cries
when I moved my eyes
to look at her
all of a sudden Smiles! M

Having to miss this all. Did Rodney love a lady who wanted
so eagerly his child? Was it a mere protest of against the
abuse of women in South Africa or in general.
Questions of my speculative mind. I do not know Rodney, or
should I call him Ben? But one thing I know for sure, he
touched me, almost thinking he was a she. A feminine
stroke. A deep and detailed etching of reality. He wanted
a family so eagerly but I guess He couldn't, such agony...

Mercy

I am crying from pain
etchings in my brain
how can we live and love
and hence rise above
this world of misery
.........................
crying, for..why do we need to live
while our children are dying. M

Etching: Tears for Fertility.
Next: Memory of a child grown death.
Etching: Suffering Solitude.

Rodney Benn standing up for women (and men) in (general)
South Africa, suffering solitude! Or felt left alone for
himself? Discretion has its place right here.

The works of art from his hands and inspiration speak for
themselves. Everyone deserves a family of his, her own, no
one should be left alone. Fertility is not something one takes
or thinks as for granted for anyone, it is a gift, but it can
result in suffering too!

Madrason, Bois le Duc, The Netherlands, saturday23 feb.