Coming up at adSPACE Durban is an exhibition by Coral Spencer. Recently married to Rob Domijan, a landscape painter from Johannesburg, she is now known as Coral Spencer Domijan.

The exhibition is titled Maid in Africa: A Tribute to the Domestic Worker. The following is the first paragraph of a written tribute by Coral Spencer Domijan to 'explain' where this exhibition comes from.

“Like a cuckoo in your nest I consumed your time. When your children were being looked after by others you took care of me, as if I where your own. You could have neglected me, but you did not. You could have resented me, yet it never showed. I, the cuckoo, was the one strapped to your back every day, not your own, and yet you loved me as much as if I were. I was an innocent then and I thank you.”

Maid in Africa is a sincere, albeit naïve, tribute by Spencer Domijan to the woman who looked after her as a child. The artist is aware of the issues around painting the "other", and yet, feels obliged to do so with utmost respect to her subject.

Maid in Africa: A Tribute to the Domestic Worker opens on January 19 and runs until February 5.