Marlene Dumas's Child with Jersey

After Marlene Dumas The Cover Up. 1994

The Saatchi Gallery writes, " In The Cover-Up, Marlene Dumas presents a corruption of innocence. Her portrayal of a young child with its clothes lifted over its head immediately gives way to dark thoughts of sexuality and exploitation. The controversy isn't in the images Marlene Dumas paints, but in the way they're subverted by an implied knowingness, a blatant confrontation with a natural reality and its discomforts."



What I see is a child struggling with her dress, if this was a prelude to a sexual act, the child's pampers / pantie should be off. That's another ballgame, it never crossed my mind that the work meant exploitation. When you put meaning when meaning is not necessarily, you destroy its beauty. I like very much her work. Consequently, Tracey Moffatt deals with that subject dead on.