"Thyini bethuna": “Oy vey” is a shortened form of the Yiddish phrase “Oy vey is mir”. It translates to “Oh, woe is me”. There is no direct translation from Yiddish to isiXhosa, but a close equivalent expression is ‘Thyini bethuna.’ Both Yiddish and isiXhosa have faced historical persecution but have shown steadfast resilience – precisely the attitude needed amidst lockdowns and interruptions to the lives we once lived.

Joe Turpin is a visual artist who focuses on historically charged narratives and semiotics, and

the physical expansion of painting as practice. He makes mixed media installations and is drawn to temporal conversations about memory and history, where his identity as a Jewish person becomes principal and consequential to exploring memory, identity, migration, persecution and cultural paradigms.

Turpin holds an honours degree in Fine Art from the University of the Witwatersrand and master’s degree from Pratt Institute in New York.