VisionfromtheEdge:BreytenBreytenbachPaintingtheLines

The South African poet Breyten Breytenbach has been living in exile since 1959. His involvement in anti-apartheid activism made it impossible for him to stay in his native country any longer, but also from abroad Breytenbach kept devoting himself to a more just South Africa. Even after the abolishment of the apartheid regime, his life is determined by the struggle for dignity and humanity. In the process, he is increasingly inspired by the body of thought of Zen Buddhism. Although the poet Breytenbach enjoys worldwide fame, the painter Breytenbach is only known by a limited number of people. On the occasion of an exhibition of six of his panels in the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, at the time of the presentation of the Jacobus van Looy Prize, this personal, apolitical portrait of the poet-painter was made.