J-BAC 2025 - Adult 1st Place Winner - Erika Barnard - Boy in Loerie

Artist: Erika Barnard 

Artwork Title: Boy in Loerie 

Size: 297mm x 420mm 

Medium: Graphite on paper            

Framed 

Inspiration: 

A few weeks ago, in the midst of winter, as I was pulling into a local school in the Loerie Heuwel Township where I provide trauma counseling to some of our community’s most vulnerable, neglected and impoverished children, a boy arrived out of breath, wearing only one shoe. The other had fallen off as he ran through the gates, eager for the bowl of porridge waiting for him in the school’s kitchen. I watched as he stood quietly in line, fists clenched from the cold – filled with a raw combination of hunger, desperation and hope.  

This image struck me. How could it be that just a few miles away, children are being chauffeured to their schools in luxury 4x4s, lunchboxes overflowing. Yet here, quite the opposite is true. This became to me the symbol of the Kouga region itself: Contrast upon contrast. Wealth beside poverty, luxury living beside overcrowded shacks. 

Looking at his feet, I realized the footprints he leaves – and those still ahead of him – will look very different from mine. And though I may never be able to walk in his shoes, it is my duty, at least through art, to walk beside him and tell his story. 

Artist Bio: 

Erika Barnard (now Griesel) is a Youth minister based in Jeffreys Bay. She provides counseling to both children and adults dealing with trauma in the greater Kouga community. After studying Drama and Theatre Arts, she furthered her studies in Psychology  and finally completed her Master’s Degree in Theology in 2022. Erika sees her art as a key instrument to inspire social justice, creating awareness and inspiring change. Her artwork often aims to be a voice for the voiceless, telling the stories of the vulnerable through graphite portraits drawn on paper.