Gutenberg platz installation (2003)

Gutenberg invented the printing industry many centuries ago. John Meinert, the father of Peter Meinert, established the first newspaper printing company in Windhoek in 1917. This was in Stübel Street and became home to Namibia’s early newspapers, which appeared in English, Afrikaans and German. Many years later the Republikein and Allgemeine Zeitung had to move their premises elsewhere for the centre to be converted into a shop-lined mall suitable for pedestrians.

The owner of the café/restaurant in the centre, Yvonne Eliasov, asked Trudi to stage an exhibition at the café. Trudi immediately saw the potential of including all the shops in the planned installation. She showed her knitted pieces, the cast rhino horns, and the three heads she had completed shortly beforehand. For the heads she decided on three colours of clay: white for the San lady, black for the Ovambo lady, and dusty brown for the Damara lady.