His canvas was immense: medicine, writing, painting, teaching, community service. And on every part of that canvas, he left strokes of compassion, courage and creativity.
By FARID SAYED
This is the keynote address which was delivered on Saturday November 15 at the opening of the Arts for All exhibition at the Mariam Parker Islamic Art Gallery in Imam Haron Road, Lansdowne.
It is indeed an extraordinary privilege to stand before you this afternoon for the opening of the Arts for All exhibition — a space created to honour the life, vision and artistry of a man whose impact on our community, our culture and our understanding of beauty is immeasurable: Dr Mohammad Cassiem D’arcy.
For over 30 years, Dr D’arcy enriched the pages of Muslim Views with his highly popular column, ‘Arts for All’. Through it, he offered far more than commentary on paintings, exhibitions, or artistic trends. He opened a window — sometimes gentle, sometimes provocative — into the worlds of creativity, memory, heritage, and imagination.
Today, this exhibition stands not only as a tribute to his art, but as a testament to a lifetime spent opening spaces, entering spaces, and creating spaces where others could learn, grow, heal and see.
The blank canvas — and the courage to enter the empty space
Artists often speak of the terror and promise of the blank canvas. It is a place of possibility but also of uncertainty — an open space demanding courage, intention and honesty.
Dr D’arcy understands that space profoundly.
From the very beginning of his life in District Six – a community itself uprooted and wiped from the canvas by Apartheid – he confronted what it meant to live in spaces denied, restricted or erased. When Apartheid sought even to alter his very name, reducing ‘D’arcy’ to something it felt more ‘appropriate’, he responded not by shrinking but by filling the canvas of his life with purpose.
After matriculating in 1957, Dr D’arcy was admitted to the University of Cape Town (UCT) for medical studies. The medical school at UCT, which adhered strictly to the restrictions placed on Black students by the Apartheid regime, presented another distorted canvas — segregated wards, barred access to certain patients, disclaimers meant to diminish Black aspiration. Yet Dr D’arcy refused to sign away his dignity. He refused to let someone else define the boundaries of his canvas.
He completed his medical degree in 1963, and because of limited opportunities in Apartheid South Africa for him – as a black graduate – to pursue his chosen speciality, pathology, he took up residency in that discipline in North America.
He stepped into that space, and through brilliance and resilience, became a pioneering specialist in electron microscopy and neuropathology. He produced groundbreaking research that improved global understanding of kernicterus, a rare but serious complication of untreated jaundice in babies. This research continues to influence treatment of this condition.
His research skills lead to several offers to remain abroad, but he declined them, instead choosing to return home intending to teach and practice pathology.
But when he returned to his country of birth, the doors of academia remained closed to him. Once again, the canvas was blank. And once again, he chose to fill it.
Stepping into spaces of service
Instead of accepting a comfortable post overseas, Dr D’arcy chose the harder, more meaningful space: he opened a general medical practice in Gleemoor and Lansdowne, serving the working class, the poor, the marginalised — those for whom healthcare was often inaccessible.
He charged fees that barely covered the rent.
He travelled into townships during Apartheid uprisings, braving tear gas to treat school children.
He wrote medical notes simply reading ‘very sick’ so labourers could spend precious nights with their families.
He turned his home into an emergency surgical room when young protestors needed to avoid arrest at state hospitals.
In these acts, he demonstrated something profound: that service is an art, and that justice, too, requires stepping into spaces others fear to enter.
A life in colour, story and imagination
But Dr D’arcy knew that a healed society needs more than medicine. It needs stories, history, imagination — the nourishment of the soul.
And so, he stepped into another space: the arts.
His novels and short stories — including the well-known Toli, Hero of Hanover Park — amplified voices seldom heard in literature. His plays, such as The Red Deezer, staged at Artscape, brought our community’s narratives onto a national platform.
His paintings travelled beyond our shores, exhibited at the Iziko National Gallery and even in Malaysia. Works like The Devil’s Revenge stand today as haunting reminders of the destruction of District Six — visual testimonies that refuse to let injustice fade from memory.
And in Muslim Views, his Arts for All column became a cultural anchor. For three decades, month after month, he invited our readers to look again, to notice, to appreciate. He democratized art — made it accessible, unpretentious, and woven into daily life.
As editor, I too learned to see through him.
My personal conversations with Dr D’arcy sharpened my own understanding of art — not only how to interpret it, but how to appreciate its quiet power to transform us. He taught me that art is not a luxury. It is a necessity — a form of knowledge, a tool of resistance, a space of healing.
The spaces he opened for us
When I reflect on his life, I realize that Dr D’arcy was always – and still is – discovering or creating space:
• In medicine, he opened space for the poor to receive dignity.
• In writing, he opened space for marginalised communities to see themselves in literature.
• In heritage, he opened space for District Six to be remembered.
• In Muslim Views, he opened space for thousands of readers to connect with art, culture and history.
• And with his paintbrush, he opened space for truth — always beautiful, sometimes unsettling, but always necessary.
This exhibition, Arts for All, stands within that tradition. It is a space shaped by his philosophy: that art belongs to everyone, that creativity is not the privilege of a few, and that beauty — when we truly see it — can change us.
From the archives: His voice, still teaching us
As I searched our newspaper’s archives preparing this talk, I revisited the countless columns where Dr D’arcy guided our readers through exhibitions, introduced us to artists from our very own communities, brought museums to life and shared his memories and insights from his wide travels. What struck me was how consistent his message remained across decades: pay attention, look deeper, find meaning.
That message is perhaps best captured in his own words, written in the February 2019 edition of Muslim Views, and quoted in an earlier tribute by my former colleague, Dr Yunus Omar. Dr D’arcy wrote:
‘When art pieces are continually on view, you might not always ‘see’ them. But stop once in a while and focus on their subjects and artistic detail. In the blink of an eye, sullen moods change, depression and drudge fade; the change is subtle, but it is there.’
This was not just an observation.
It was an invitation.
A philosophy.
A way of living.
Dr D’arcy understood that the mind, the heart and the spirit need beauty — that art reminds us that we are human, that we feel, that we remember.
A legacy that will never fade
This afternoon, as we open Arts for All, we honour a man who lived artfully — not only through the works he produced, but through the life he shaped.
His canvas was immense:
medicine, writing, painting, teaching, community service.
And on every part of that canvas, he left strokes of compassion, courage and creativity.
May this exhibition remind us, and future generations, of his enduring message:
to look closely, to care deeply, and to create fearlessly.
May his legacy continue to inspire us to fill our own blank canvases with meaning and service.
Farid Sayed is the editor of Muslim Views.
• Also read: Denied decades ago, UCT honours Dr D’arcy
The Arts for All exhibition celebrates a lifetime contribution to art by Dr Mohammed Cassiem D’arcy and is curated by Raffiq Desai.
It opened at the Mariam Parker Islamic Art Gallery, 409 Imam Haron Road, Lansdowne, on Saturday November 15 and is on until November 30.
Gallery hours
Monday to Thursday: 9.30am – 4.00pm; Friday: 9.30am – noon; Saturday and Sunday: 9.30am – 1.00pm
