Description
Acquitted but Guilty: Innocence Lost, a unique and profoundly arresting bronze sculpture by Jos Steenkamp, completed in 2023, presents a stark and compelling exploration of the human conscience and the inescapable nature of inner truth. The piece, with a height of 37 cm and a weight of 6.9 kg, carries an undeniable psychological weight. Its bronze surface, likely treated with a dark, perhaps roughly textured patina, would accentuate the anguished yet resolute expression, the deep furrows and hollows that speak of internal conflict and hard won awareness.
The tilted head and the intensity of the gaze, or lack thereof if the eyes are downcast or closed, powerfully convey a state of profound introspection and reckoning. The artist describes this piece as representing an internal postman that grinds us to a halt. Our inner voice can be temporarily subdued, but it will not remain as incubated potential, nor will it wither away into obscurity. Its nature is to be on the move, when a critical limit of inhibition of this motion is reached, it retaliates & makes itself known. It is the voice that confronts us to contemplate & weigh the consequences, the gains and losses, of our choices. This sculpture gives form to that relentless inner voice, the one that ensures innocence, once lost through difficult choices or experiences, leaves an indelible mark that demands acknowledgement.
The creator of this psychologically charged work is Jos Steenkamp (SA 1957), an artist whose profound insights into the human condition are shaped by his lifelong dedication to psychology as Dr Jo Steenkamp. A Pretoria based Clinical Psychologist with a doctorate earned in 1991, he is the founder of SHIP® (Spontaneous Healing Intra, systemic Process), an innovative psychotherapeutic method. His career, spanning nearly four decades, has focused on the spontaneous healing of trauma and the psycho, biological regulation of internal dis-ease. Through The SHIP® Foundation, established in 2001, his writings, and his teachings, Dr Steenkamp has guided countless individuals towards confronting and integrating difficult truths. His return to sculpting in 2021, after a 22 year period dedicated to refining SHIP®, represented a “coming home,” a way to articulate the complexities of the psyche, its shadows and its light, through the tangible medium of sculpture, a passion dating back to his adolescence. He states that when asked to create a piece representing this internal landscape, he responded, “I will think of those words, but taking into account that I do spontaneous sculpting, I have no idea what will come into being. And this was the result.”
Acquitted but Guilty: Innocence Lost is a stark testament to Dr Steenkamp’s commitment to exploring the unvarnished truths of human experience. The title itself speaks to a paradox often encountered in psychological healing: the societal or external acquittal versus the internal, deeply felt sense of guilt or responsibility that constitutes a loss of innocence. This “internal postman” can be understood as the conscience, or the persistent call of the authentic self, which, as the SHIP® method acknowledges, strives for expression and healing even when deeply buried by trauma or denial. The sculpture’s raw power lies in its depiction of this inevitable confrontation. The artist’s admission of having no idea what will come into being during his spontaneous sculpting process mirrors the often unpredictable nature of therapeutic breakthroughs, where suppressed material emerges with undeniable force. Jos Steenkamp, the artist, intends his sculptures to be vessels of relational energy, products of an intuitive interplay of the conscious and unconscious.
This piece, perhaps more than many, embodies that intense dialogue, forcing the viewer to engage with uncomfortable but essential questions about accountability, consequence, and the enduring voice of inner truth. It is a profound commentary on the human condition, the impossibility of escaping oneself, and the painful but necessary journey of integrating our lost innocence’s to achieve a more complete and honest state of being.
Artist: Jos Steenkamp (SA1957)
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