- Title
- Abstract art and the contested ground of African modernisms
- Creator
- Mumba, Patrick
- ThesisAdvisor
- Poole, Tanya
- ThesisAdvisor
- Simbao, Ruth
- Date
- 2016
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MFA
- Identifier
- vital:2515
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021165
- Description
- This submission for a Masters of Fine Art consists of a thesis titled Abstract Art and the Contested Ground of African Modernisms developed as a document to support the exhibition Time in Between. The exhibition addresses the fact that nothing is permanent in life, and uses abstract paintings that reveal in-between time through an engagement with the processes of ageing and decaying. Life is always a temporary situation, an idea which I develop as Time in Between, the beginning and the ending, the young and the aged, the new and the old. In my painting practice I break down these dichotomies, questioning how abstractions engage with the relative notion of time and how this links to the processes of ageing and decaying in life. I relate this ageing process to the aesthetic process of moving from representational art to semi-abstract art, and to complete abstraction, when the object or material reaches a wholly unrecognisable stage. My practice is concerned not only with the aesthetics of these paintings but also, more importantly, with translating each specific theme into the formal qualities of abstraction. In my thesis I analyse abstraction in relation to ‘African Modernisms’ and critique the notion that African abstraction is not ‘African’ but a mere copy of Western Modernism. In response to this notion, I have used a study of abstraction to interrogate notions of so-called ‘African-ness’ or ‘Zambian-ness’, whilst simultaneously challenging the Western stereotypical view of African modern art. I have also related the theoretical and practical analysis of abstraction to scholarly debates on abstraction and ‘African Modernism’, arguing for multiple African Modernisms.
- Format
- 73 leaves, pdf
- Publisher
- Rhodes University, Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Mumba, Patrick
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCEPDF | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |