HARRY (1995)

Instead of utilising favourable content that was readily available such as landscapes, Trudi chose to work with what she knew best. This included a tortoise that has been living with her and her husband for some 48 years. She played around with his shape and colour, and especially with the way he moved. This resulted in graphic prints that became a joy for her to produce. She depicted the tortoise Harry through all seasons – dancing, living with her and sleeping at night.

“Her masterly combination of cut and etched linoleum is evident in works such as Harry in Winter (1995) in which she has achieved subtle tonal gradients and a painterly quality in her printing of colour applied to the etched areas.”

The definitive 1995 exploration of Harry revolved around his shape, which she sewed and painted in a dark-brown industrial colour on huge pieces of strong canvas to produce two paintings that depicted the resilience of San people while going about their daily activities. They were entitled Ritual and Trophy.