Allie McGhee’s Apartheid

1984

McGhee painted an abstract painting of apartheid South Africa.

Allie McGhee (b. 1941) is a Detroit-based painter originally from Charleston, West Virginia. Inspired by abstract expressionism, jazz, and Charleston’s industrial environment, McGhee explores tensions between design and experimentation.  

In Apartheid, McGhee uses brush strokes and rhythms inspired by jazz to explore South Africa’s policy of racial segregation and economic discrimination. McGhee uses angular shapes and mixed materials to showcase the tensions of apartheid. Apartheid also includes recognizable forms like an outstretched hand, a black jackboot, and the inscriptions “BE” and “FREEDOM.”