Born in Johannesburg, Jane Alexander works primarily in sculpture, installation and photomontage. Her figures are characterized by ambiguity; neither one thing nor the other, they are in a constant state of mutation.

Her best-known work, Butcher Boys in the collection of the South African National Gallery, tackles the history of apartheid and the politics of so called 'integration'. The boys' features are an amalgamation of the human and bestial. The sculpture is an uncomfortable reminder of our tendencies towards violence and oppression.

The figure of the 'Harbinger' is a recurring motif within Alexander's oeuvre. The harbinger is a messenger, a portent of things to come. He is monstrous and grotesque, but simultaneously fascinating. Our fears for the future are balanced by an equally powerful curiosity.

An edition of the current photo-montage was part of Alexander's exhibition Surveys (from the Cape of Good Hope), organized by the Museum of African Art in New York. Alexander created an installation of multiple sculptures, featuring a life-sized fiberglass harbinger.

Holland Cotter writes of the artist's sculptures: "They aren't saints or angels, though some, in their odd way, do look angelic. They're more closely related to the marginal creatures carved on high corbels and capitals in medieval churches: half-hidden, half-human, half-bestial things, refugees from the subconscious, defectors from dreams, staking claim to turf in the spiritual realm."