New Krotoa painting sparks heated heritage debate - IOL

Lizelle Kruger with her painting of historic Khoi woman Krotoa, which has sparked debate over her portrayal.

A new painting of iconic Khoi Krotoa has sparked a heated debate over whether it honours her legacy – or simply imposes another artist’s interpretation on a woman whose face was never recorded.

The painting by artist Lizelle Kruger was unveiled at the Castle of Good Hope on Heritage Day and will be housed in the Castle’s chapel.

Kruger says the work is the culmination of 10 years of research and was intended to restore dignity to Krotoa.

But SAFTA-nominated documentary filmmaker, journalist and cultural commentator Romantha Botha has strongly criticised the work.

In a Substack essay titled Keep Your Imagination to Yourself, Botha questioned the decision to depict Krotoa with what she described as “light skin, soft European features” and what appeared to be makeup.

She also questioned the decision to display the work at the Castle.

“Every image of Krotoa is invented. Which means the only question that has ever mattered is whose imagination gets to invent her, and whose walls it hangs on,” Botha wrote.

Botha said the issue goes beyond the painting itself and touches on the way indigenous people have historically been represented through colonial eyes.

SAFTA-nominated filmmaker and cultural commentator Romantha Botha has criticised the portrayal of Krotoa.

“When a white woman tells me she spent years reimagining or ‘rewriting’ my ancestors’ visual history, I hear the oldest relationship we have. They are the eye beholding and they decide what’s worthy to put on a canvas,” she added.

She also questioned Kruger’s description of wanting to restore Krotoa’s “innocence and dignity”.

Botha wrote: “At the unveiling, the artist, Lizelle Kruger, told the SABC ‘I wanted to restore that innocence and dignity that she was robbed of.’ Robbed by whom, Lizelle?”.

Wendy Williams, co-founder and founding member of The Healing Well in Tafelsig, has similarly questioned the painting.

“WHOSE FACE IS THIS?” she asked in a social media post.

Williams said there was nothing wrong with an artistic interpretation, but warned that visitors could eventually mistake the painting for an authentic portrait.

“If no verified image of Krotoa exists, shouldn’t the painting clearly be labelled ‘An artistic interpretation of Krotoa’?” she asked.

Krotoa, also known as Eva, was a 17th-century Khoi woman who became an interpreter and negotiator during the early Dutch colonial period at the Cape.

Historical records indicate that she entered Jan van Riebeeck’s household as a child, learned Dutch and became an interpreter. She later married Danish surgeon Pieter van Meerhof and was eventually banished to Robben Island, where she died in 1674.

Speaking to the SABC during the unveiling of the painting on Heritage Day, Kruger said: “The humility and the innocence is what stood out for me about her. I wanted to give her dignity and lift her up in my painting.”

Kruger described the painting as the culmination of a decade of work and said she was “thrilled” with the final result.