Created by the women of the coastal town of Hamburg, in South Africa’s largely rural, poverty-stricken Eastern Cape Province, the Keiskamma Altarpiece is a message of hope for people who are contending with the devastation that AIDS has wrought in their lives in the midst of poverty and other hardships. It is constructed as a series of hinged panels that open to reveal three "layers". Click on the images to the left to display each layer of the altarpiece, and then explore the layers by clicking on the individual scenes depicted.

The Keiskamma Altarpiece is the second monumental artwork made by the women of the coastal town of Hamburg, located in South Africa’s largely rural Eastern Cape Province. The first such piece, the 43 meter (138 ft) “Democracy Tapestry”, inspired by the famed Bayeux Tapestry, presents the history of South Africa’s first ten years of democracy. The Keiskamma Altarpiece was made using embroidery, beadwork, wire sculpture, and photographs. Its shape and dimensions (6.5 meters wide when fully open and 4.2 meters high) exactly replicates those the multi-panel format of the famed Isenheim Altarpiece, now in Colmar, France. Moreover, the synchronicity between the two is not limited to size and shape. The Keiskamma Altarpiece reflects a kindred spirit the Isenheim, both of them created in the face of a devastating plague wreaking havoc on their communities.

Created by Matthias Grünewald in the 15th century, the Isenheim Altarpiece was painted for a hospice where the patients were dying of ergot poisoning, caused by a simple grain fungus. At the time, no one had been able to diagnose this misunderstood affliction, then known as St. Anthony’s Fire, which had arisen from what were then unknown causes. The panic, fear and devastation it caused resulted in suffering and death throughout Europe, just as AIDS is continuing to do, particularly in southern Africa, as well as around the world. Just as the Democracy Tapestry presented a message of celebration and of hope for the newly democratic South Africa, the Keiskamma Altarpiece offers solace, strength, and inspiration. The Keiskamma Altarpiece depicts the annunciation, crucifixion, resurrection, and other events from the New Testament from the point-of-view of the people of the Keiskamma region.