Amanzi Amthatha (“The cold water takes him”) commemorates the Xhosa warrior-prophet Makana, who led attacks against the British in 1819 and was captured and imprisoned on Robben Island, off Cape Town (the same prison where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated from 1964 to 1982). The print suggests the treacherous waters surrounding Robben Island, in which Makana and thirty others died when their boat capsized during an escape attempt. This print is part of a group portfolio by Tana and nineteen other artists involved with the Egazini Outreach Project, which was founded in 2000 to use printmaking to document regional Xhosa history.
Gallery label from Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now, March 23–August 14, 2011 .