c. 2006 Religion News Service

LOS ANGELES _ The South African women who stitched together the story of AIDS in their village never imagined their work would find a wider audience. Their creation, the Keiskamma Altarpiece, is now on a national tour of the United States to raise awareness about AIDS through art.

The altarpiece is the brainchild of Dr. Carol Hofmeyr, who started an AIDS clinic in the impoverished fishing village of Hamburg, South Africa, where a quarter of the 3,000 residents is HIV positive. She encouraged the women to make embroidery to raise money for medicine. Soon they went from making placemats to more ambitious projects.

The Keiskamma Altarpiece is the women’s reworking of the well known, 16th-century Isenheim altarpiece, which was commissioned by monks to celebrate the region’s deliverance from “St. Anthony’s Fire,” a plague that caused excruciating sores. The Isenheim Altarpiece depicts Christ on the cross, suffering from the same sores.

Altarpieces are used to decorate altars and convey sacred messages through art. Images are painted on panels suspended in a frame behind the altar; many, like the Keiskamma Altarpiece, feature separate panels that open like window shudders to reveal additional art inside.

The Keiskamma Altarpiece came to the attention of David Gere, co-chair of UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures and co-curator of the upcoming MAKE ART/STOP AIDS exhibit. He immediately recognized its appeal.

“It was essential that it be seen,” Gere said. “It is physically and visually beautiful and emanates power.”

In part, the altarpiece’s power comes from its materials, said Gere. More than 100 women learned traditional Xhosa embroidery skills to work on the altarpiece for a seven-month period.

“It’s something born of huge effort and enormous love,” Gere said. “There’s something about the care, love and compassion contained in stitches.”

Bedecked with colorful beads and elaborate embroidered scenes, the Keiskamma Altarpiece weighs one ton and is the same size _ 13 feet by 22 feet _ as the Isenheim Altarpiece. It has three layers. In the first, an anonymous grandmother stands somberly before a cross with children orphaned by AIDS. Side panels honor two local women, and the bottom panel illustrates the funeral of one of their sons, lost to AIDS.

The second layer contains a vibrant juxtaposition of scenes: a choir singing with angels overhead; Gaba, a local prophet, dancing by the sea; and a wild fig tree that shelters the community.

The third and innermost layer reveals almost life-sized photographs of three grandmothers and their grandchildren, including Hamburg’s AIDS educator Eunice Nombulelo Mangwane.

“What you see is robust, happy. For me, it’s a profound set of images that tells us AIDS doesn’t have to be a deadly disease,” Gere said.

That was not always the case in Hamburg. When Mangwane started community outreach in 2002, locals did not trust her. Myths about the cause of AIDS abounded; many believed it was caused by white people sprinkling powder from an airplane. Mangwane said misinformation from the government was to blame.

Despite the initial mistrust, she was full of conviction. Mangwane said her faith as a Methodist played a big role in her work. She believes God is helping those with HIV and that gives her hope.

Once the community saw the success of antiretroviral drugs, people flocked for treatment. Mangwane’s family also has felt the impact of AIDS. Last year, she discovered her daughter and her 4-year-old grandson are infected.

In addition to her outreach, Mangwane found time to work on the altarpiece, which tells the story of life in Hamburg before and after antiretroviral drugs. The altarpiece’s imagery is predominantly female because the AIDS epidemic has left women with a huge burden.

“When our daughters die or our sons, we as women have to bring up children,” she said in an interview. “I wonder, what will happen when we one day die, and there has not yet been a cure for HIV? What is going to happen to those children? Let’s have hope. Let’s hope that maybe there will be a cure.”

Gere said the grandmothers replace the traditional male saints in the Isenheim altarpiece. “They are the saints of the Eastern Cape as opposed to the saints of Western Europe.”

Although inspired by the Isenheim altarpiece, the Hamburg community made the Keiskamma Altarpiece in its own image.

“If they hadn’t come up with strong imagery and strong responses you might think it was a pale imitation,” Gere said. “This is its own shimmering work of art.”

The Keiskamma Altarpiece opened at the University of California-Los Angeles on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day. It will be on display from Jan. 10 to March 11, 2007. The altarpiece then travels to Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle. Additional stops are being planned.

KRE/RR END CRABTREE

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