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All Shall Be Afforded Dignity! Thin Ice Press, York. 6th March to 30th April 2026.

By 22 February 2026March 12th, 2026No Comments
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Norman Kaplan: All Shall Be Afforded Dignity! Thin Ice Press, York. 6th March to 30th April, 2026.

‘Norman Kaplan: All Shall be Afforded Dignity!’

This display of artwork commemorates the journey to democracy in South Africa, affirming the fundamental human right to dignity for all.

Norman Kaplan’s linocuts and prints speak to what life was like under the apartheid regime and remind us of the enduring relationship between art and protest.

‘All Shall Be Afforded Dignity!’ is curated around the work (of the same name) that artist Norman Kaplan made in 1996 in response to a call for art to celebrate the Constitution of the new democratic South Africa.

His linocut, All shall Be Afforded Dignity, was awarded the first prize honour and is engraved into a window in South Africa’s Constitutional Court, on permanent display.

Through sharing the linocuts as well as political and satirical cartoons made by Kaplan, during a career that spans apartheid South Africa, exile in the UK, and the hopes of post-liberation South Africa, this exhibition weaves a narrative that explores the interconnected themes of dignity, democracy, and the enduring human spirit.  For an online showcase of the works visit https://antiapartheidlegacy.org.uk/resources/exhibitions/asbad/ 

Showing at The York Centre for Print: Thin Ice Press, Kaplan’s prints and political cartoons are displayed alongside items of archival ephemera from the Anti-Apartheid Movement and materials from the University of York’s Borthwick Institute of Archives, which highlight some of the York area’s rich anti-apartheid heritage.

 

Thin Ice Press

The Old School House
Peasholme Green,
York YO1 7PW

what3words  ///fever.power.giving

Free admission 

Opening Hours

Friday – Monday, 10am – 5pm

Thursdays, 1pm- 8pm

Access

The Thin Ice Press studio is in a former schoolhouse, nestled in the tranquil garden of St Anthony’s Hall and overlooked by the city walls. Enter through the double gate for step-free access to the gardens and follow the path to the green front door.

Facilities include wheelchair access and accessible toilet facilities.

York railway station is within a 20-minute walk and the Peasholme Green bus stops are located just outside. Q-Park Shambles is across the road.

Co-Programme and Workshops

Guided tours, thematically linked talks and creative response workshops engaging the exhibition can be arranged for interested groups. Creative response options include learning linocut or other printing forms, and participants will take away their very own prints!

We welcome enquires from alternative education providers, home educators, schools (KS3, KS4 and KS5/post 16), tertiary institutions and community facing/organised groups. Please email info@antiapartheidlegacy.org.uk to register your interest and to find out more.

For general public workshops visit https://www.thinicepress.org/workshops 

For an online viewing of Norman Kaplan’s work visit the showcase on our website.

The Waiting Room

Kwazekhele Township, Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth)

Linocut on paper
Norman Kaplan, 1995

The hope and commitment for all to be afforded dignity, in a post-apartheid South Africa, was writ large.  Across education, free universal health care, the provision of electricity and water for communities, road building and infrastructure projects, the Mandela government and the ANC frameworks sought to rebuild a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic nation.  Today, South Africa’s Constitution is the foundation to equality and dignity for all.

Statement from Norman Kaplan read at the opening of the exhibition of his prints and cartoons at Thin Ice Press, York, 6th March 2026

When I entered Art College, our graphics teacher set us a project. He asked us to write a short children’s story. We were then required to hand-letter a chapter and illustrate it with linocuts. This engendered in me a lifelong love of lino as a medium, printmaking and type. All of which, I am happy to see, are a mainstay of Thin Ice Press. The story of the history of the name is a gem.  It is a great joy to see your beautiful studio and those wonderful presses, so marvellously restored and cared for. I cannot imagine a finer venue in which to present my work. I feel so close to everything you are doing and achieving. This exhibition marks a highlight in my life for which I am extremely grateful, proud and honoured.

It is also a source of great pleasure that it is situated in the city of York, which I know, from my years in exile, for taking a principled and committed stand against the brutal, racist policies of the apartheid government of South Africa and strongly supporting the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the liberation struggle.

As regards the aims and objectives of Thin Ice, I am in total accord with the sentiments expressed by your director Helen Smith:

” What we have here is working equipment. What we really care about is that it is all very well preserving the materials, it’s all very well preserving the presses and the type, but if you don’t have the people who know how to use them and are excited about making something with them, then you’re not preserving the most important thing of all, which is the knowledge, skills and craft that go into making printing and all the heritage crafts what they are.”

That is so important in this age of bland and soulless instant gratification of Artificial Intelligence that is beginning to dominate all facets of creativity. Art is an expression of the human spirit, of joy and grief, love and hate, of wonder, of things beautiful and ugly and above all of love.

That great printmaker and humanist, Frans Masereel, said “Love seems to me the mainspring of a life worth living. Loving another is only a beginning, one must love as much as possible, and in such a way that one can hate strongly what is not worthy of being loved.”

No algorithm can give love or the experience of a life lived.

I say let’s have more GUTENBERG and less ZUCKERBERG!

I’d be remiss if I did not mention the powerful role printmaking has had in the struggle for truth and social justice against racism, oppression, inequality and fascism. Having been expelled from art school 60 years ago for making prints critical of the South African apartheid government, it saddens and angers me that artists are today facing expulsion, vilification, gaol and even death for showing solidarity with the Palestinians facing genocide by the apartheid state of Israel.

Finally I’d like to purloin two quotes, again from Frans Masereel:

“I don’t like to speak of myself. I prefer to leave this to my works, which I believe faithfully reflect my nature, my dreams and my development.”

And on a series of well received exhibitions he held….

“… they are so important to me and do me so much good that I can’t find words to tell you….yet it seems to me that I’ve grown three metres, it also seems to me that I am a better man. But what I am sure of is that this is for me the finest reward and the most wonderful springboard for leaping joyously forward.”

I would like to express my profound thanks to all who made this possible.

The Anti Apartheid Legacy Centre of Memory and Learning, whose Director, Caroline Kamana, has put in so much committed and incredibly hard work at organising the many exhibitions across the UK.

Also Action for Southern Africa.

And, of course, all at Thin Ice Press for hosting the event, and whose achievements in keeping printmaking alive are so admirable. May you go from strength to strength. All power to your presses!

Statement from Norman Kaplan read at the opening of the exhibition of his prints and cartoons at John Wesley’s New Room, Bristol, 7th May 2025

Dear friends and comrades,

I greet and welcome you from the small maritime city of Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth, perched on the south easterly tip of the continent of Africa.
I was extremely pleased and humbled whenI  learned that the exhibition, commemorating 30 years of democracy, after the defeat of Apartheid in South Africa, was to be set up in Bristol.
I spent 14 years in exile in the UK and was very involved in the British Anti-apartheid Movement as a member and activist. Bristol, with its vibrant St Pauls community, played a pivotal role in the Boycott, Disinvest and Sanctions campaign to isolate the apartheid regime. I remember the tireless commitment and unflinching dedication to inform and educate people to the horrors of apartheid and action to be taken to support the struggle against that pernicious system of legislated white supremacy.
The St Pauls Apartheid Free Zone of the 1980’s had tremendous success in shutting down trade of products from South Africa. It also stopped sporting contacts and companies such as Shell and Barclays Bank from doing business as usual with the pariah nation. It is gratifying to see that these ideas have been taken up by the Palestinian BDS movement.
I hope the work on show will add a small human dimension to the evils inherent in the ideology of racial superiority. The concepts of which were also challenged by the Abolitionist Movement that had a powerful presence in Bristol, as did the slave trade. But, eventually, led to the passing of the Anti-slavery Laws.
I am proud to be associated with the city and citizens of Bristol who have consistently fought for the dignity of humanity over the reactionary forces of exploitation and oppression.
My sincere thanks to all involved,
A luta continua,
Norman Kaplan

Statement from Norman Kaplan read at the opening of the exhibition of his prints and cartoons at John Wesley’s New Room, Bristol, 7th May 2025

Dear friends and comrades,

I greet and welcome you from the small maritime city of Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth, perched on the south easterly tip of the continent of Africa.
I was extremely pleased and humbled whenI  learned that the exhibition, commemorating 30 years of democracy, after the defeat of Apartheid in South Africa, was to be set up in Bristol.
I spent 14 years in exile in the UK and was very involved in the British Anti-apartheid Movement as a member and activist. Bristol, with its vibrant St Pauls community, played a pivotal role in the Boycott, Disinvest and Sanctions campaign to isolate the apartheid regime. I remember the tireless commitment and unflinching dedication to inform and educate people to the horrors of apartheid and action to be taken to support the struggle against that pernicious system of legislated white supremacy.
The St Pauls Apartheid Free Zone of the 1980’s had tremendous success in shutting down trade of products from South Africa. It also stopped sporting contacts and companies such as Shell and Barclays Bank from doing business as usual with the pariah nation. It is gratifying to see that these ideas have been taken up by the Palestinian BDS movement.
I hope the work on show will add a small human dimension to the evils inherent in the ideology of racial superiority. The concepts of which were also challenged by the Abolitionist Movement that had a powerful presence in Bristol, as did the slave trade. But, eventually, led to the passing of the Anti-slavery Laws.
I am proud to be associated with the city and citizens of Bristol who have consistently fought for the dignity of humanity over the reactionary forces of exploitation and oppression.
My sincere thanks to all involved,
A luta continua,
Norman Kaplan

Simon and Frances (1975)

Mandela – Message From Robben Island (1986)

Workers negotiate for their rights – part 3 of 4 (1987),

All Shall Be Afforded Dignity (1996).  All Shall Be Afforded Dignity photograph by Ben Law-Viljoen. Constitutional Court Art Collection. Courtesy Constitutional Court Trust.

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"This exhibition really shows the power of art to communicate powerful messages”

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“This is an incredibly powerful exhibition”

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"a fantastic exhibition highlighting a history we need to remember and honour”

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“Outstanding as art but the message alongside it makes my heart skip a beat”

‘Norman Kaplan: All Shall be Afforded Dignity!’ has been organised and presented for display by the Anti-Apartheid Movement Archives, Action for Southern Africa, and the Anti-Apartheid Legacy Centre

“All shall be afforded dignity” is our theme for the exhibition programme. It is both commemorative and a call to action for the future.

Our aim is to draw on the spirit of the 1994 election year, where hope with action were the key ingredients to achieving a new dawn for South Africa and for the world.

A travelling exhibition, ‘All Shall Be Afforded Dignity!’ at Thin Ice Press is made possible by National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery Players.

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