CHERIESE DILRAJH

EXISTENCE IS AN OCCUPATION

The legacies of colonialism, settler-colonialism and neocolonialism, apartheid and the Group Areas Act live on in the present as many are forcibly removed from their land, and are dehumanised, killed or criminalised for this occupation while the South African Defense Force, South African Police and the Anti-Land Invasion Unit have committed mass crimes and operate outside of the law.

This is a struggle we are not alone in, as similar atrocities are/were committed by armies elsewhere in Africa and by the Israeli Defense Force against Palestinians who have been killed, dispossessed of their lands and whose homes have been demolished. People are occupying, not invading the land, as they can’t be invaders in something that belongs to them. The act of existing becomes an occupation.

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ABOUT THE ARTIST
Cheriese Dilrajh has an education from the streets but she also holds a fine art degree from the University of the Witwatersrand. Cheriese works with migration and culture, inherited histories, the creation of ~, and confronting and disrupting violence through social practice and multi-disciplinary forms.

︎: @Cher_iese
︎: @cheriese_