Minutiae

Site responsive installation at Smitswinkel Bay

Minutiae consists of panels of Voile fabric onto which the portrait of a chacma baboon is printed. This is done in layers to create a silhouetted image with a final focus on the front layer showing the baboon’s unique fingerprints or minutiae.

This work forms part of The Baboon Biennale in Cape Town in September 2026. The event aims to bring awareness to Cape Town’s chacma baboons which involves escalating human-wildlife conflict, habitat loss, and sharp division over urban management strategies like culling, translocation, or confinement in sanctuaries.

Authorities approved plans to capture specific troops (such as the Seaforth and Waterfall groups) and move them to forced sanctuaries where males are sterilized and the troops eventually die out. Animal welfare groups and legal bodies strongly oppose confinement or culling, arguing it punishes the wildlife for failures in human waste management and urban planning.

The Baboon Biennale is driven by documentary filmmaker, Karin Slater, and is inspired by her film called Waiting for Evolution.

Waiting for Evolution explores climate change and human behaviour through the lens of baboons in Simonstown. It examines community polarization and reflects on Gladys Thomas's writings about power and oppression. Minutiae is a portrait of a unique individual and alludes to loss.

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