yes boss Archives - Dan Halter

A Fool with an Ox is No Longer a Fool

A Fool with an Ox is No Longer a Fool 2022 Relief print with Silkscreen onto Zimbabwean currency (81 x Z$25 billion agro-cheques) 67 x 126 cm (Published by South Atlantic Press)

4,358,055 is a number that can also be read as a word, in this case: YES BOSS (435 8055). The deferential phrase ‘yes boss’ or its Afrikaans equivalent ‘ja baas’ can still be heard in Zimbabwe and South Africa being said by black people in response to white people. This is a hangover from the master – servant dynamic of years of racial discrimination. Money has always been boss.

Get Out of Jail Free

Get Out of Jail Free 2021 Relief print with Silkscreen on Fabriano Artistico, hot pressed, 300 gsm (Published by South Atlantic Press) 67 x 126 cm

Z$4,358,055 2019

Z$4,358,055 2019 Map of Zimbabwean farming regions hand-woven with a progression of shredded Zimbabwean bank notes that amount to Z$4,358,055. 82 x 89 cm

This map shows the different farming regions in Zimbabwe and has been woven with now worthless amounts of Zimbabwean currency. This amount forms a coded message as certain numbers can be read as letters in the alphabet using some imagination.

This is designed to evade the censorship of communications critical of the government. In this case the numbers can be interpreted as reading YES BOSS.

image by Janelle Low

Yes Boss 2017

Yes Boss 2017 Chinese scroll saying ‘yes boss’ in Mandarin, from Shanghai. 180 x 43 cm

Yes Boss China

Yes Boss 2 2007

Yes Boss II 2007 Farming Region map of Zimbabwe hand-woven with shredded $1,000 Zimbabwean bank notes, gold and black thread
82 x 89 cm (image by Ant Strack)

Yes Boss 1 2006

Yes Boss 2006 Farming Region map of Zimbabwe hand-woven with shredded $5,000 Zimbabwean bank notes, gold thread
82 x 89 cm (image by Ant Strack)

Yes Boss 1 detail 2006

detail