ARTIST’S STATEMENT
[This] etching explores the complex duality of being both the creator and the product within an artistic career. Set within the surreal confines of a fish market, the central figure — part human, part fish — embodies the tension between self-expression and commodification. As artists, we are often required to “sell” ourselves, navigating a world where personal identity and creative output become inseparably entangled.
The work draws conceptual inspiration from Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, invoking themes of alienation, transformation, and estrangement from one’s former identity. The reference to Jan Matejko’s Stańczyk further reflects the introspective burden of witnessing and processing socio-political change — here, the jester’s private despair amidst public festivity finds a parallel in the artist’s quiet disquiet.
This etching also responds to a transitional period in my own life, in which inherited roles —as a child, a daughter, a member of society — begin to dissolve or shift. Recent political upheavals underscore this instability, intensifying the sense of displacement.
Ultimately, the artist must inhabit a state of dual perception: to draw from lived experience while simultaneously stepping outside it, observing with detachment. In this way, the self becomes both subject and witness, caught in the net of one’s own creation.
Trivia
[As] it was with the interview that I conducted with Juandre van Eck earlier on during this series, sounds of pages being leafed are audible at certain points in this interview. I was looking for the work that Beck Glass entered for the 2024 edition of the art competition. Unfortunately, I could not find the work because I assumed that it would be an etching. So, as we were talking, I asked her to indicate the work. That work was a digital photograph entitled Am I woman enough for you? In 2024 Miné Kleynhans from Bloemfontein won the 2024 edition of the competition and Nosiviwe Beauty Matikinca’s solo exhibition Ukungalingani Kwezemfundo (Educational Inequality) as a result of her winning the 2023 edition of the art competition was staged.
11 August
© Mmutle Arthur Kgokong, 2026
To reference this audio documentation please cite:
Kgokong, M.A. 2026. Intraparadox, Interview with Rebecca Louise (Beck) Glass. Sell – Fish. 4 Sep 2025. SNS25EditAmbient Mix. Mmutleak.com-Intraparadox.
Reference credits
List of figures
- Glass, Rebecca Louise (Beck). Sell – Fish (2025). Etching. 62,5 cm x 52,5 cm
- Rebecca Louise (Beck) Glass. Courtesy of SASOL New Signatures Visual Art Competition
Afterwords
* Original Image of Rebecca Louise (Beck) Glass courtesy of SASOL New Signatures Art Competition
<> I remain grateful to Rebecca Louise (Beck) Glass for agreeing to sit with me for this interview. Le ka moso.
Intraparadox 
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