Of the Greatness of Life – some keys of understanding

WINDHOEK, JAN 14 – The National Art Gallery of Namibia’s first exhibition of 2019 “Of the Greatness of Life – some keys of understanding” will officially open this Thursday, 17 January 2019 at 18h00 in the Upper Gallery.

Of the Greatness of Life is a solo exhibition by Dr. Helmut Lauschke, the exhibition is made up of a number of expressive paintings, it draws from his long serving career as medical doctor, a time he spent working in northern Namibia. The paintings are particularly inspired by the people of the area and their way of life, how they lived especially in a time filled with so many challenges.

Dr. Lauschke was born on the 10th of September 1934 in Cologne, Germany.

He lived through the “Kristallnacht” or Night of the Broken Glass and the Second World War. Lauschke studied medicine and specialized in traumatology and plastic-reconstructive surgery in Germany. He arrived in Namibia January 1985, and worked as a medical doctor at Oshakati state hospital in northern Namibia until September 1998.

The hospital was situated inside the war zone with bombs being detonated in and around the hospital premises. It was constantly overcrowded and the few medical doctors available worked hard day and night, at times till physical exhaustion to assist the patients. The hospital conditions remained this way until Namibia gained Independence in March 1990.

The experiences in the north moved Dr. Lauschke and he depicts his experience through his paintings. His artworks bring to our attention the psychological and physical sufferings that the war caused. This can
be seen in the paintings such as Children as Playing and Suffering and Kwashiorkor, a condition he treated so often in the hospital.

Apart from his vast medical experience, Dr. Lauschke is dedicated to visual arts, and this is his third solo exhibition at the National Art Gallery of Namibia. – NDN Staffer