Willie Bester

Willie Bester is a South African sculptor, painter and collage artist born in Montagu, in the Western Cape, in 1956. He is best known for protest art against the apartheid system, made from objects he gathers from the townships.

Bester grew up in a family the racial laws of the time classified as mixed: his mother was classified as Coloured and his father was a Black Xhosa-speaking man. He had to leave school early to earn money and, after a series of seasonal jobs, took art classes at the Community Art Projects in Cape Town from 1986. There he began making his first collages and paintings on discrimination.

His technique combines discarded materials, oil paint and narrative composition. He uses the human body as a vehicle for storytelling, and in works such as Migrant Laborer he portrays the lives of migrant workers under apartheid. After the end of the regime, his work moved toward celebrating the resilience of the oppressed. His work is held in the Jean Pigozzi collection and has been shown in many cities, from Johannesburg to New York.

He is considered one of the most recognised South African artists of his generation, and his work remains a reference for art committed to his country's historical memory.