This early painting by Minnette Vári, presumably executed in the early 1990s, shows her fascination with mythology and the female body. The large painting with neoexpressionistic features depicts reclining female nudes draped across the canvas with curled up cats sleeping beside them. A blue scarab, visible at the top of the canvas, is an important symbol in Egyptian mythology. This motif is associated with the divine manifestation of the early morning sun, Khepri, who emerges from the top of the scarab’s feelers. The scarab was believed to roll the disk of the morning sun at daybreak; in this instance, awakening the women from their dreams, on this day, as Goddesses.

"Vári is one of our most challenging, rigorous and sophisticated artists. Her contribution to the understanding of identity, ideology and mythology in the South African context is unmatched."¹

^1. Thulani Gcabashe. (2016) Chairman’s Foreword, in Tracy Murinik (ed.) Minette Vári, Of Darkness and of Light, Johannesburg: Standard Bank, page vii.