Latest news with #TheGatesofHell
IOL News
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Ivan Waldeck: From gang leader to guiding light
Ivan Waldeck's book is now for sale Image: Supplied Once a feared gangster and convicted murderer, Ivan Waldeck has become one of South Africa's most powerful voices for change. His newly released autobiography, The Gates of Hell, tells the unflinching story of how a life shaped by poverty, violence and addiction was turned into a mission of hope, healing and transformation. Born and raised in Tiervlei-Ravensmead, Cape Town, Waldeck was no stranger to hardship. Losing both his father and twin siblings at a young age, he grew up in a shack with a single mother trying to hold the family together. With poverty all around and violence on every corner, gangsterism seemed less like a choice and more like a means of survival. He joined young and rose quickly, driven by a desire for power and protection in a brutal environment. His life is a story few would believe if it weren't told in his own words. Now, Waldeck is using his past not for pity or pride, but to pave a way out for those still trapped in the violent cycle he narrowly escaped. Waldeck's criminal rise brought him face to face with some of the Western Cape's most feared figures — including Rashied Staggie, leader of the Hard Livings gang. But in an unexpected twist, years later, the two men would work together toward a different kind of legacy: helping others break free from the same destructive lifestyle they once embodied. While imprisoned, Waldeck began to experience a radical shift. A brief yet life-altering encounter with Nelson Mandela at Pollsmoor Prison became a moment of reckoning. What followed was years of soul-searching, transformation and the painful work of reconciliation — both with himself and those he had hurt. Video Player is loading. 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Next Stay Close ✕ Ivan Waldeck shared personal accounts of his most darkest moments Image: Supplied 'The reason for this book was our young men dying every week on our streets,' Waldeck says. 'Mothers' tears moved me to give hope to our young generation and make them aware that there is a way out of gangs.' The Gates of Hell, which took two years to write, is raw, unfiltered, and rooted in truth — not glorifying gang life, but exposing its devastating toll. Waldeck doesn't write as a victim or a hero, but as someone who has lived the darkness and chosen the light. 'I took every opportunity to better my life and build a future for my children — and to reach out to those in need to exit the life of crime.' He now leads the Cape Transformation Centre, a non-profit organisation committed to helping others find a way out. The centre's flagship programme, EXIT, supports individuals seeking to leave gangs and overcome addiction. It offers a structured 12-step recovery process for drug users, alongside counselling and guidance for reintegration into communities. Waldeck is also deeply committed to prevention. 'My goal is for The Gates of Hell to become a comprehension book for Grade 8 students in South African schools,' he explains. 'To inform them and warn them not to be involved in crime and gangs.' Rashieda Staggie with Ivan Waldeck and his wife Nathasha Image: Supplied He recalls haunting scenes from his time in prison, where boys barely into their teens were thrown into a world they weren't ready for. 'I saw young men who couldn't stand their ground. They were abused in different ways, and many times it's too late to intervene. I remember one gangster who hanged himself because he couldn't deal with the 'Numbers' system and their requirements.' Waldeck, now a husband, father, and community leader, remains grounded in the belief that change is possible — not just for individuals, but for entire communities. 'We must appreciate those who care,' he said. 'Because sometimes, that's all it takes to stop someone from falling.' The Gates of Hell is more than a personal memoir. It's a beacon of possibility for those society has written off, a tool for educators and community leaders, and a rallying cry for a nation battling crime and youth disillusionment. The Gates of Hell by Ivan Waldeck is available now in print and digital formats. For schools, churches, community organisations and anyone passionate about social justice and second chances, this is a book that demands to be read — and shared. Weekend Argus
The Guardian
13-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Very desirable' rare cast of Rodin's The Kiss is up for auction
Auguste Rodin's sensual portrayal of tragic lovers caught in an embrace before being killed by a jealous husband is one of the world's most recognised works of art. The French artist had the idea for The Kiss (Le Baiser) in 1882, and the larger-than-lifesize marble artwork emerged a decade later. By then, Rodin was the most influential international sculptor of the age. Dozens of versions of The Kiss were made before Rodin's death aged 77 in 1917 and dozens more official reproductions and copies emerged after, making it one of the most replicated pieces of art in the world. Now, a rare bronze of The Kiss produced during Rodin's lifetime, signed by the artist and which has been in private hands for most of the past century, will be auctioned this month. The bronze, measuring 60cm high, was one of the first three cast in this size and has retained the artist's original detail. It was commissioned in 1904 by the Argentine Jockey Club to be presented as a marriage gift to Lucien Mérignac, the French fencing world and Olympic champion. Auctioneering expert Raphaël Courant admitted he was surprised to discover what he described as 'a very beautiful work, very sensual' in the living room of a family apartment in western France. 'It's a very desirable object and it's increasingly rare to see this kind of work by Rodin outside of a museum,' he told the Observer. The bronze, estimated at about €500,000, was cast in France in July 1904 and presented to Mérignac two months later in Buenos Aires as a fitting symbol of love to mark his marriage to Christina Ruiz de Castillo. Rodin had initially intended to include the ill-fated lovers in his massive bronze doors, The Gates of Hell, commissioned in 1879 by the French government for a new Paris museum. The figures are of Paolo and Francesca, tragic lovers from Dante's narrative poem The Divine Comedy, who were killed by Francesca's husband after he caught the 13th-century Italian noblewoman in an embrace with his own younger brother. The lovers were condemned to wander eternally through hell. Rodin later removed the couple from the gates and transformed them into a standalone marble sculpture measuring 1.8m that was presented to the Paris Salon in 1898 and is today in the city's Rodin Museum. After the success of The Kiss at the Salon, Rodin contacted the Maison Barbedienne foundry and agreed a 10-year contract to reproduce the sculpture. A total of about 60 bronzes measuring 60cm are believed to have been struck. Sign up to Art Weekly Your weekly art world round-up, sketching out all the biggest stories, scandals and exhibitions after newsletter promotion The Mérignac bronze has a dedication to the fencing champion on its base. Mérignac and his wife later moved back to France and settled in La Flèche in the west where he was a fencing instructor at the Prytanée military school. Christina died in 1923 and, 14 years later, Mérignac married one of his students, Agathe Turgis. They moved to Angers in the Loire valley and when he died in 1941, Turgis continued to teach fencing. The anonymous private owner was one of Turgis's pupils. She spotted the bronze in a local antique shop and bought it for her Angers flat. 'You really don't expect to see a work of this kind and size in such a domestic setting,' Courant said. The bronze will be sold by auction house Chauviré & Courant in Angers on 25 April.
Axios
27-03-2025
- Axios
Cleveland's unsolved museum bombing, 55 years later
Fifty-five years ago this week, unknown parties planted a pipe bomb at the base of Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker" statue outside the Cleveland Museum of Art. The resulting explosion — in the early morning of March 24, 1970 — shattered the base of the statue and sent shrapnel flying as far as 500 feet, according to news coverage at the time. Why it matters: It remains one of Cleveland's most perplexing unsolved crimes. The big picture: The famous sculpture, crafted as a likeness of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, was first designed as part of a larger Rodin work, "The Gates of Hell," in Paris. The enlarged version in Cleveland was one of fewer than 10 duplicates cast during Rodin's lifetime under the artist's supervision. Flashback: It was installed outside CMA in 1917, shortly before Rodin's death. Context: The bombing in Cleveland occurred during a moment of revolutionary ferment across the country, driven by opposition to the Vietnam War and police violence against Black people. Six weeks after the bombing, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire at Kent State University, killing four and wounding nine in what would become one of the most symbolic moments of the Vietnam era. On the same day as the shootings (May 4, 1970), the city of Chicago unveiled a rebuilt statue honoring police involved in the 1886 Haymarket Riot — a statue that had been destroyed by a pipe bomb in 1969. Zoom out: Domestic bombings became increasingly common. In 1976, Cleveland was the most bombed city in the United States, earning the moniker "Bomb City, USA" in the national press. What they're saying: "Nearly a dozen radical underground groups ... set off hundreds of bombs during that tumultuous decade — so many, in fact, that many people all but accepted them as a part of daily life," Time Magazine recalls. The intrigue: A message scrawled at the base of the toppled Rodin statue said, "Off the Ruling Class," but none of the radical groups active in Cleveland at the time took credit for the explosion. As recently as 2017, CMA received a tip about a potential suspect but was unable to corroborate it. State of play: The statue was reinstalled in its damaged state after the bombing to serve as a message.
