Political prostitution - SOLD

Richard Mudariki (b 1985)
Political prostitution - 2011
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 40 cm
Signed and dated bottom right
Sold - 2012

This painting makes a political statement by comparing dictatorship to prostitution. Politicians use their positions of power to manipulate their constituency through speeches and propaganda, creating a false sense of hope for a better life. Voters are prostituted by such unscrupulous politicians who would quickly move on to a different support base as soon as their power is threatened. In this painting the cockerel represents a dictator who refuses to step down, whilst everything around him – symbolised by the tethered prostitutes and the limbless man on a broken chair – is falling apart.