Berni Searle

Berni Searle (born 7 July 1964[1] in Cape Town, South Africa) is an artist who works with photography, video, and film to produce lens-based installations that stage narratives connected to history, identity, memory, and place.

Created a year after the first democratic elections, these works were meant to question euphoric ideals of nationhood and nation building in a lexicon strongly mediated, even regulated, by context and instruction.

[11] With her installation A Darker Shade of Light (1999), Searle responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was intended to bring justice to the victims of violent crimes that occurred in South Africa during the apartheid era.

This work is made up of close-up photos of parts of Searle's naked body - including images of the nape of the neck, the back, the palms, and the soles of the feet -, all of which are covered in henna powder to mimic the appearance of bruising.

[12] Searle's installation A Place in the Sun (2019) consists of four screens that play video of a drained swimming pool in the socially diverse Maitland community in Cape Town throughout the day.

The video offers glimpses into the nostalgic feelings of residents of the community through the music and sounds of children playing over the desolate space as the artist and other figures occasionally pass in and out of the frame.