With this work, issues of afrocentricity versus eurocentricity and indigenous versus decadent Western culture were raised. Murray challenged notions of what art is and evoked questions about what the last century’s cultural production will be remembered for.
“Certain elements within the Cape Town City Council did everything possible to prevent the prize-winning sculpture from going ahead, saying that Murray’s use of an African fetish figure might offend the religious sensibilities of West African communities. A lawyer engaged by the J.K. Gross Trust, the Cape Town Urban Arts Foundation and the AVA, initiators and managers of the project managed to fight this one off, pointing out that the little wooden figure Murray was using as a resource was tourist art, and getting affidavits from respected academics to say that the intended piece could not be construed as in any way offensive.”
