Berni Searle 

Art Basel Unlimited
2026

The installation Profile (2002) was commissioned for an exhibition titled ‘Fronteras’ at Espacio C, Santander in Spain, which broadly dealt with ideas of boundaries and borders. Rather than starting with broad concepts such as nationalism, Searle focused on the impact of boundaries on a domestic and personal level, which inevitably brought into question ‘broader’ issues, highlighting how the negotiation and history of such boundaries can shape identity. The work sees the artist’s cheek becoming the surface for temporary markings reminiscent of various stories of oppression suggested by historically significant symbols – a Catholic cross, a Dutch windmill, the British crown and souvenir spoon, an Anti-riot shield, a Zulu love letter (a beaded rectangular flap used to express feelings and communicate messages), a Rakam (Arabic prayer), and whole cloves (symbolic of the history of European trade and commerce) – imprinted into the skin. These artefacts are not necessarily ones the artist herself would have in her home, but the fact that some of the objects are ‘souvenirs’, which may have been put in a ‘display cabinet’ or on the ‘mantelpiece’, suggests a degree of domesticity. In some of the images, traces of the previous pressing can be seen. This idea of a ‘layering of experiences’ is echoed in the installation through the use of transparent prints that can be viewed simultaneously, also mirroring the multiplicitous histories and political entanglements carried in a singular object or identity. With Profile, Searle thus traces the impact of heritage, religion, colonialism and apartheid constituting often conflicting borders.