KAY HASSAN.

KAY HASSAN by Cantz Hatfel Diamler Chrysler, November 2000, $35.00, ISBN 3-775-70918-5

Although Kay Hassan's collage paper constructions are large, they are only fragments that represent intimate pieces of South Africa's past and present realities. Like an old scratchy home movie, these rough edged constructions seem to flicker onto the walls from the projector of Hassan's memories. In both his collages and his installations, Hassan gathers paper torn from billboard advertisements, or objects found in mining quarters or in a shebeen (a township bar) and reassembles them to present composite portraits not specific events, people or places, but a multi-layered compilation of things remembered and experienced over time. What gives his work an extra charge is that the fragments never completely cease being what they were before their inclusion in the overall work.

Hassan is one of a slowly increasing number of black South African artists whose work has received international acclaim. This catalogue, created as a result of the Diamler Chrysler Contemporary artist prize won by Kay in 1999, is a testament to his growing recognition. Although it lacks a concentrated discussion of his artistic motivation and process, it is the first book dedicated solely to Hassan's body of work. At a time when many South African artists feverishly try to escape or forget their history, Hassan's art is raw material that will preserve and help to reconstruct South Africa's history in the present and for future generations.