SLEGS VIR ALMAL is the wording of the notice that need not exist, need never be put up; the un-notice. The European or Englishman in the streets of a South African town sees notices of exclusion new to him; on benches, buses and post office counters.

I come from no perfect country: the rich in England are privileged still and a part of the kingdom is torn with old hatreds; poor cloven Ireland with its unforgiving factions. However, throughout my country, that penniless eccentric of Europe, I see the absent sign ... FOR EVERYONE ONLY.The figurative elements are transcriptions in paint of fragments of postcards I bought in South Africa last year. I choose the postcard because it is already provenly acceptable as a reality to the public.The figurative elements are transcriptions in paint of fragments of postcards I bought in South Africa last year. I choose the postcard because it is already provenly acceptable as a reality to the public.

Fetish, totem and mask are not the prerogative of the black African; the English, the Germans and the Euroafricans of this republic all have their share; hence the set of African Masks whose titles are the titles of their respective postcard sources (although 'Rosebank' is slightly altered to remind the viewer of the end of Citizen Kane); hence the emblem of litterbin and rainbow and the totem of the beach notice (with a figure seen in an archetypal attitude of disgrace); hence the joined fragments to imply endless stretches of land and sea and sky. These are emblems in the manner of the 16th and 17th century emblem books of Quarles, Alciati etc.

Tom Phillips: from introduction to exhibition catalogue South Africa 1974