Exhibit reveals layers of AIDS journey

Even before she had seen it in person, Nan Nalder wanted to bring the Keiskamma Altarpiece to Seattle's St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral.

The massive altarpiece — 13 feet high and 22 feet wide, with three layers, weighing a ton — was created by residents of Hamburg, a village on the Keiskamma River in South Africa devastated by AIDS. It depicts the suffering of the villagers as well as their transition from despair to hope.

Nalder, an artist and St. Mark's parishioner, thought it was a powerful piece of art with a story that Seattle — home to some leading centers on AIDS research — should know about.

Through Nalder and others' work and financial support, the Keiskamma Altarpiece arrived at St. Mark's in June, where it is on display through Sept. 20.

"I was absolutely floored," Nalder recalls of seeing the altarpiece in person for the first time. "The ability for a community that was suffering so deeply to come together in community and to work together to create such a grand piece — it was such a powerful message."

Coping with losses through art

At St. Mark's, the Keiskamma Altarpiece dominates the front of the nave, its embroidery, beadwork and appliqués a colorful contrast to the wood and white-colored walls around it.

The altarpiece was the idea of Dr. Carol Hofmeyr, a South African doctor who, with her husband, established an AIDS hospice and treatment center in Hamburg — the first such clinic in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

Hofmeyr, who also holds a degree in fine arts, began using art to help those in the village cope with their losses.

During a trip to France, she saw the Isenheim Altarpiece, a German work created in the 1500s to celebrate deliverance from a plague. Hofmeyr suggested to those in Hamburg that they create a similar altarpiece to tell their story.

The community began talking about ideas, which became drawings that were transferred to cloth panels. Over the next months, some 130 villagers — mostly women — used traditional and newly learned needlework, beadwork and other techniques to create panels forming the three layers of the altarpiece.

The first layer is somber, the colors mostly brown, the figures unsmiling and wearing masks. It depicts the residents' shock, grief and fear as AIDS began ravaging their village. The central figure is a widow, and near her are children orphaned when their parents died of AIDS.

The bottom panel depicts the funeral of a villager who died of AIDS.

The central panels open like cupboard doors, and the second layer is more colorful and lively. Scenes from village life are depicted: people preparing for a feast, a choir singing while birds fly, people gathered around a fig tree, fish swirling in a lagoon.

They are all symbols of renewal and resurrection, Nalder said, and depict the hope that came with the opening of the AIDS clinic and the AIDS education that followed.

The third layer is the most vibrant, with reds and oranges, intricate, glistening beadwork, and photographs of three village grandmothers and their grandchildren, some of whom were orphaned.

The three grandmothers represent many others who have become the caretakers of children orphaned by AIDS. The central photograph is of Eunice Mangwane, Hamburg's AIDS counselor, who helped create the altarpiece and who will be at St. Mark's on Wednesday to talk about it.

Reflecting reactions to disease

At St. Mark's, about 1,300 people have attended the narrated opening of the altarpiece, which takes place several times each week.

"I was absolutely overcome" upon seeing the altarpiece, said Kit Herrod, director of external relations for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The center is one of the sponsors that brought the altarpiece to St. Mark's.

"When they opened it to the final panel and you see the three grandmothers, I was so moved by that because you're looking at real people," Herrod said.

Paul Ahern, a lawyer and member of St. Mark's, recently returned from a trip to South Africa, where he visited his son who was working at an AIDS clinic.

He likes the way the altarpiece's unfolding echoes the way people would react in such a difficult situation: first, with shock and incomprehension.

"Then as a community, they pull through it, figure out how to make the best of things, look after each other. I really felt the spirit of the people of South Africa in that altarpiece," he said.

For Nalder, who spearheaded the effort to bring the altarpiece to Seattle as part of its U.S. tour, the artwork is "the best way I have seen for an oppressed community to use their art to share their story.

"There's a message that transcends language and country and social status."

Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com

If you go

Keiskamma Altarpiece

The Keiskamma Altarpiece is on display at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, 1245 10th Ave. E., Seattle, through Sept. 20.

Narrated opening of the altarpiece: Sundays 10:10 a.m., 12:45 and 10:10 p.m.; Wednesdays and Thursdays 2:30 and 7:30 p.m.; other days/times by appointment.

No guided tour this Wednesday; instead the public is invited to a celebration featuring Eunice Mangwane and choir performance by Seattle Women's Ensemble. Celebration starts at 6:45 p.m.; free but donations accepted.

www.saintmarks.org