Gary Van Wyk: State of Emergency Series Van Wyk, as a student of Fine Art at this time, was strongly affected and enraged by the State of Emergency. Even though the press was not allowed to report on incidents in the townships, photographs were still filtering through. Using press and television images, Van Wyk made a series of large works on unprimed canvas depicting the soldiers and the freedom fighters, the cops and the comrades who were no longer being reported about. He painted his backgrounds red in order to make the figures done in blacks and grays stand out. His works were large enough to form banners at meetings and events. Even though his works were not for sale, anti-Apartheid organisations made postcards of his works, and his images were used overseas.