Butcher Boys
Dr. Amy Nygaard Mickelson, "Jane Alexander, Butcher Boys," in Smarthistory, September 29, 2020, accessed November 3, 2020, https://smarthistory.org/jane-alexander-butcher-boys/.
In 1985 and 86' while still a graduate student at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South African artist Jane Alexander created the life-sized sculpture titled Butcher Boys. This piece of art work consists of three "monstrous" figures sitting casually on a wooden bench. These figures were composed of reinforced plaster, animal bones, horns, oil paint, and of course the wooden bench they sit atop. Many observations of the piece lead to the same questions; are the figures man or beast? And what do they represent?
The artist Alexander goes on to explain how Butcher Boys causes discomfort in its viewers because their form comes very close to ours as humans, but their anatomy contains many non human elements and mutations. "Alexander has eliminated, or grossly mutated, each figure’s sense of sound, sight, smell, and taste. Each figure has irregular concavities where, perhaps, ears once protruded, but have otherwise been removed. They have the slightest suggestion of nasal cavities, which makes their lack of any oral cavity all the more prominent and perplexing. Additionally, deep scars traverse the larynx, past the heart and end just above the navel. Their limbs and torsos are decidedly human. Their arms and legs are without mutation, however, deep wounds down their spinal columns expose fragments of bones.
The scary depictions have earned the Butcher Boys a sort of negative representation. While it is not made to symbolize something negative, the art work has gained a reputation of representing violence and trauma.
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