My identikit sketches for the cops help survivors of crime to heal
'It's not the artistic life he imagined but Nicholas Marobane's sketches for the police have helped the 39-year-old to find purpose and meaning.
'I grew up in Burgersfort, Limpopo, and I've always loved to draw. In primary school I divided my books in half and the one half was just drawings.
Drawings, drawings and drawings.
I gave my parents a hard time. They couldn't understand why this child just wanted to draw. I used everything I could get my hands on to draw – crayons, pens, pencils, it really didn't matter to me.
Drawing was what I wanted to do with my life.
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People from Burgersfort don't really go and study after school but I wanted to see if I could do something more with my art after all these years of my parents and teachers telling me to focus on my schoolwork and draw less.
I submitted a portfolio of my work to the University of Tshwane in Pretoria and was accepted to study fine art. It was exciting to go to the big city after Burgersfort and being away from home was quite an experience. I got my degree at 24 but I had to face a few harsh realities.
I didn't realise there are so few people who care about art. It's actually sad that so many young people finish studying and start looking for work with bright eyes and then battle so much. I just went back to Limpopo. What was I supposed to do?
There was a position open as a clerk at the Lyndenburg SAPS and I applied because I needed a job. I got the job and a while later the station commander told me I should try to get a foot in the door at the forensic department.
They asked me do a course on facial recognition software. Then a position opened up in the forensic department in Polokwane as a sketcher, compiling pictures of suspects with the help of facial recognition software.
I applied and here I am now – an artist in the police.
My job isn't easy. I'm privileged to be able to draw for a living but I work with people who've been through terrible trauma. I sit with them and I have to work gently. When I interview a victim, I try to make them feel comfortable. I tell a story or something, as if I'm sharing their experience. I find it helps.
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When I've refreshed their memory and a sketch is finished, there's a kind of relief. The victims are happier when we're done. It sometimes feels like I'm applying a form of trauma therapy. We have a connection.
I focus on eyes in my sketches. If the eyes don't have emotion, it's not a good likeness. I can try to capture every detail of the person – their scars, their hairstyle, their wrinkles – but if the eyes don't have emotion, it just looks like a caricature. I bring murderers and rapists to life. Honestly, it bothers me.
I'm very, very fortunate to have the job I have. Everyone else in the forensic department struggles more than I do. They literally have to go and photograph bodies.
In my art there are a lot of themes of chains. We're all tied down by something. In this country – corruption, poverty, injustice. I see that it gnaws at my colleagues as well. When I close my eyes, I see an exhibition in which I can tell all of their stories.
My personal art is a little more abstract compared to my sketches for the police. I break away from symmetrical precision. I try to sketch people who could represent anyone. Work that people can buy, hang in their homes, and it represents something of right and justice.
That's what I'm trying to do with my shop in town, EthosArt. I may be a policeman, but I'm an artist at heart. Art is life and if we let the arts die, then we die. Our ubuntu dies.
If we stop seeing humanity in the world, humanity is forgotten. Doing nothing with my talent would make me feel like I'm contributing to everything that's being swept under the rug.
I'm happy. I'm privileged. I was put on this Earth to do something with my talent and I think I'm doing it. This life is special. This life is sad, it's unfair, but it's the life we've been given. We have to appreciate every moment of it.'
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